HISTORY 


OF  THE 


Fourth    Regiment 

S.  C.  VOLUNTEERS, 


FROM  THE 


Commencement  of  the  War  until 
Lee's  Surrender. 


BY  J.  W.  REID. 


SHANNON  &  CO.,  Printers  and  Stationers, 
Greenville,  S.  C. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1891,  by  JK'SSK 
WAI/TON  REID,  in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washing 
ton,  D.  C. 


INTRODUCTION. 


DEAR  READER  :  The  Fourth  Regiment  of  South  Caro 
lina  Volunteers  was  made  up  principally  from  Green 
ville,  Anderson  and  Pick  ens  (which  then  enbraced  what 
is  now  Oconee)  Counties. 

The  field  officers  were  J.  B.  E.  Sloan,  Colonel;  Charles 
S.  Mattison,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  James Whitner,  Major. 
Samuel  Wilkes  was  Adjutant,  A.  C.  Cooley,  Surgeon, 
Burnham.  Assistant  Surgeon,  Henry  Cauble.  Com 
missary. 

The  Captians  of  Companies  were  Kilpatrick,  Hum 
phreys,  Dean,  Anderson,  Pool,  Hawthorne,  Long,  Hol- 
lingsworth,  Griffin  and  Shanklin,  with  a  full  quota  of 
Lieutenants  and  non-commissioned  officers. 

This  Regiment  was  called  out  April  14th,  1861,  and 
went  to  Columbia,  S.  C.,  from  which  place  I  wrote  my 
first  letter  home,  and  from  that  time  on  1  endeavored 
to  give  an  account  of  our  travels  until  the  Regiment 
ceased  to  be  even  a  battalion,  in  July,  1862.  As  the 
reader  will  see,  I  wrote  a  great  many  letters  to  my 
family  during  this  period,  which  were  all  taken  care  of 
and  which  I  have  here  copied  from  the  originals,  leaving 
nothing  out,  except  a  few  things  of  a  private  nature. 
I  have  also  used  precisely  the  same  language  that  I  did 
in  the  letters,  because  I  could  use  no  better 

In  writing  the  letters  at  that  time  I  stated  nothing 
but  facts  in  regard  to  our  movements,  or  what  I 
thought  to  be  facts,  and  I  can  also  say  that  I  still  think 
them  facts. 

A  goodly  number  of  my  old  companions  in  arms  and 
others,  knowing  that  these  letters  had  been  preserved, 
have  urged  me  for  several  years  back  to  have  them 


VI 


published.  I  have  at  length  concluded  to  do  so,  hoping 
they  may  to  some  extent  interest  the  reader  and  bene 
fit  the  writer.  Please  pass  over  all  errors,  as  I  have 
never  studied  grammar  a  day  in  my  life,  and  am  by  no 
means  a  learned  man.  I  hope  that  grammar  is  not 
what  you  want,  but  a  plain  statement  of  facts.  These 
pages  are  written  so  the  most  illiterate  person  can  un 
derstand,  and  if  so,  most  assuredly  a  scholar  can. 
Without  further  remarks,  I  will  say,  "Such  as  I  have, 
give  I  unto  thee." 

Very  respectfully  yours, 
Greenville  Co.,  S.  C.  J.  W.  REID. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FOURTH  REGIMENT 


-OF- 


SOUTH  CAROLINA  VOLUNTEERS. 


COLUMBIA,  S.  C.,  June  8,  1861. 

There  has  nothing  important  transpired  since  I  wrote 
you  a  few  days  ago.  Since  the  taking  of  Fort  Sumter 
I  have  heard  of  110  more  fighting,  but  as  the  ball  has 
opened  there  is  no  telling  at  present  how  or  when  it 
may  end,  but  it  cannot  reasonably  be  doubted  by  any 
one  that  is  familiar  with  the  present  situation  of  affairs, 
that  there  will  be  fighting  to  do,  and  a  great  deal  of  it. 

I  have  no  doubt  in  my  mind  but  that  we  will  be  sent 
on  to  Virginia  soon.  Everything  seems  to  point  that 
way.  Virginia  is  where  the  Federal  army  is  concentrat 
ing  its  forces,  and  there  is  where  I  think  we  will  meet 
them ;  and  if  we  do  go  I  will  try  to  keep  you  posted  on 
our  movements,  our  ups  and  downs,  our  outs  and  ins 
—at  least,  so  long  as  I  am  able  to  do  so — until  hostili 
ties  cease,  should  I  be  spared  through  it  all.  Let  our 
united  prayers  be  that  I  may  be  spared. 

Since  coming  to  Columbia  I  have  met  up  with  a  great 
many  of  oar  friends  aad  acquaintances  from  Greenville 
and  some  of  our  relations ;  also,  some  from  Pendletoa 
and  other  places.  Your  brother  Robinson  Tripp's  two 
eldest  sons,  William  and  Elias,  are  here,  and  your 
cousin,  Ware  Childers.  David  Keesler  of  Pendleton  is 
also  here.  I  shall  not  at  present  give  you  the  names 
of  acquaintances  that  I  have  formed  here.  I  may 
have  occason  in  future  letters  to  refer  to  some  of  them, 
and  sad  to  contemplate,  it  is  probable  that  I  may  have 
to  chronicle  the  death  of  some  of  them. 

Our  boys  here  are  very  jubilant  over  the  taking  of 
P'ort  Surnter,  and  so  am  I.  But  the  the  taking  of  Fort 
Snmter  is  not  exactly  taking  or  whipping  into  submis- 


8  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

sion  the  Yankee  nation,  or  Yankee  army.  That  thing 
remains  to  be  done  hereafter,  if  at  all.  It  will  not  be 
done  in  a  day.  Big  men  seem  willing  to  drink  all  the 
blood  that  will  be  spilled  in  this  war.  I  do  not  feel 
quite  drouthy  enough  to  do  so  myself,  and  I  think 
they  will  have  to  be  as  big  as  they  feel  before  they  do 
so.  They  may  possibly  be  able  to  drink  all  they  them 
selves  have  shed,  but  I  fear  they  will  not  be  able  to 
take  the  whole  bottle.  Time  will  show. 

We  are  still  drilling  every  day,  but  so  far  as  I  am  con 
cerned  I  could  drill  them  as  well  as  they  can  drill  me, 
as  you  know  I  have  been  a  commissioned  officer  ever 
since  I  was  eighteen  years  old,  and  already  understand 
military  tactics  and  army  regulations  very  well.  Never 
theless  I  drill  with  the  balance  of  them.  When  we  are 
not  drilling  the  time  is  pretty  much  taken  up  by  drink 
ing  popskull,  frying  pan  cakes  and  bruising  around  gen 
erally.  You  may  ask:  Why  fry  pan  cakes ?  Ans:  Be 
cause  the  dough  sticks  to  our  hands  and  we  don't  know 
how  to  get  it  off.  Please  send  me  a  receipt.  We  make 
the  latter  with  a  spoon. 

Most  of  the  boys  here  think  that  we  are  just  going  to 
have  a  frolic.  I  think  so  too,  but  I  fear  that  we  will 
have  to  dance  something  besides  hornpipes  and  jigs. 

It  reminds  me  of 

"  A  Highland  laddie  heard  of  war, 

Which  set  his  heart  in  motion  ; 
He  heard  the  distant  cannon  roar 

And  saw  the  smiling  Ocean." 

Our  immediate  neighbors  are  mostly  all  well.  Mr.  J. 
J.  Land  is  sick,  but  not  dangerously  so.  I  will  write 
soon,  Providence  permitting. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — I  had  written  two  or  three  letters  to  my  wife  before  thi»  one, 
but  as  I  had  given  her  no  instructions  to  keep  them,  they  were  therefore 
not  taken  care  of  as  those  I  wrote  afterwards.  However,  they  contained 
nothing  that  would  interest  the  reader  of  to-day.  Neither  will  those 
that  will  follow  the  preceeding  letter  for  some  time,  but  in  order  to  pre- 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  9 


serve  a  connected  account  of  the  movements  of  the  glorious  Fourth,  they 
are  inserted.  It  ceased  to  be  even  a  battalion  in  the  latter  part  of  1862, 
When  I  ariive  at  that  point  I  will  inform  you  as  near  as  I  can  of  what 
became  of  the  few  that  were  left  of  the  "  Bloody  Old  Fourth,"  as  it  was 
familiarly  known.  Now,  dear  reader,  follow  m«  and  get  it  all. 


COLUMBIA,  S.  C.,  June  14,  1861. 

Everything  and  everybody  is  in  commotion  here  to 
day.  We  have  orders  to  make  ready  to  start  to  Vir 
ginia  to-morrow.  I  suppose  there  is  no  doubt  but  that 
we  will  go,  and  if  so,  the  Lord  alone  knows  when  we 
will  get  back.  Most  assuredly,  with  some  of  us  at  least, 
that  time  will  never  come.  But  don't  let  the  thought 
of  that  disturb  you  at  all.  Try  to  think  that  I  will  be 
among  those  who  will  get  back,  and  I  will  try  and  think 
the  same;  in  fact  I  do  think  I  will.  There  seems  to  be 
something  within  me  that  assures  me  that  I  will  get  back, 
and  still  I  am  by  no  means  certain  of  it;  neither  can  I  be, 
but  still  I  feel  as  as  though  1  would.  Since  coming  to 
Columbia  I  have  visited  all  the  places  of  note  in  the  city; 
and  although  I  had  been  here  often  before,  I  had  never 
been  to  the  lunatic  asylum  before.  I  expect  I  should  have 
been  there  long  ago.  It  may  be  that  they  can  bring  in 
sane  persons  to  sanity  there.  I  can't  say,  but  I  can  say 
that  it  would  work  the  other  way  with  me.  for  I  was  not 
there  but  a  short  time,  and  in  less  than  three  hours  after 
wards  I  hardly  knew  whether  I  was  a  rebel  soldier  or  an 
Irish  Yankee.  There  is,  however,  a  glimmering  possibility 
that  going  to  the  ayslurn  was  not  th^  prime  cause  of  my 
insanity,  as  several  of  the  boys  swear  that  they  have  seen 
me  so  before  from  causes  too  delicate  to  mention.  At  any 
rate  I  did  not  again  visit  the  ayslum,  but  I  did  visit  Hunt 
again. 

There  were  several  herefrom  about  home  and  from  Green 
ville  to  see  us  off  in  the  morning.  If  we  do  go  you  will 
hear  of  it  in  a  day  or  two.  I  send  you  rny  carpet  bag  and 
contents  by  Mr.  E.  J.  Earle.  He  can  tell  you  more  than  I 
now  have  time  to  write.  I  send  you  my  likeness  by  Mr. 
Earle  also. 


10  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment, 

I  musj:  now  close  and  prepare  for  my  journey.    I  will 
write  again  at  the  first  opportunity. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NoTK. — We  went  the  next  day  as  anticipated. 


CAMP  NEAR  RICHMOND,  VA.,  June  18th,  1861. 
When  I  last  wrote  to  you  we  were  preparing  to  leave 
Columbia,  S.  C.  Accordingly  on  the  next  day,  the  15th, 
we  left  our  native  State,  and  on  the  night  of  the  17th 
reached  Richmond.  I  shall  say  but  little  about  our  trip 
here.  It  was,  to  say  the  least,  quite  an  unpleasant  trip, 
as  we  came  the  most  of  the  vvay  in  open  dirt  coaches.  We 
came  by  the  way  of  Wilmington,  N.  C.  At  every  depot  and 
town  we  passed  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  had  gathered  to 
give  us  a  welcome.  Flags  and  handkerchiefs  were  waved  in 
profusion;  every  one  seemed  to  be  in  hiirh  spirits.  We 
were  treated  to  all  we  could  eat  and  drink  (and  that  was 
considerable)  at  every  place  we  stopped  at.  Some  time 
before  we  reached  Petersburg  the  Captain  of  the  company 
to  which  I  belonged — Thomas  Dean  by  name — telegraphed 
on  to  Petersburg  to  have  dinner  ready  for  his  entire  com 
pany  when  we  arrived  there.  We  were  to  pay  Captain 
Dean  afterwards.  Accordingly  when  we  arrived  the  dinner 
was  ready,  and  so  were  we;  but  before  eating  the  most  of 
us  took  as  an  appetizer  a  doze  of  rot-of-pop-skull.  I  don't 
know  that  I  ever  saw7  men  come  so  near  eating  the  worth 
of  their  money  before  in  my  life.  A  corn-husking  or  log 
rolling  would  look  like  a  fast  day  by  the  side  of  it.  I  do 
think  that  Bill  -  -  ate  at  least  two  chickens,  and  other 
things  in  proportion,  and  then  filled  every  pocket  that  he 
had,  except  the  one  his  flask  was  in,  with  pies,  cakes  and 
other  desserts,  and  then  took  a  baked  chicken  off  in  his 
hat.  After  we  had  been  on  the  train  a  while,  at  an  un 
guarded  moment,  for  some  unkowri  cause,  he  took  off  his 
hat,  and  out  fell  cold  speck  on  the  floor.  As  you  were 
never  at  a  shooting  match  where  they  were  shooting  for 
mutton,  and  the  mutton  an  eye  witness  to  the  proceedings, 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  11 

of  course  you  don't  know  how  he  looked,  but  I  do.  Rich 
mond  is  a  good,  big  place,  and  is  situated  at  the  head  of 
tide  water  on  the  James  River.  I  don't  suppose  that  we 
will  remain  here  long-,  but  will  go  further  North,  wrhere  we 
will  meet  our  brethren  of  the  North,  and  it  is  more  than 
likely  that  we  will  fall  out  and  fight  before  we  are  together 
very  long. 

I  will  close  this  letter.  I  will  doubtless  write  again 
soon.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE.— This  .trip  from  Columbia  to  Richmond,  at  that  time,  beat 
anything  that  I  ever  saw  for  non-discipline  and  insubordination  in 
soldiers.  It  seems  that  every  man  in  the  regiment  mistook  himself  for 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  regiment.  Whiskey  was  plentiful  and 
cheap ;  every  man  had  as  much  as  he  wanted,  and  a  great  many  had  a 
great  deal  more  than  they  needed.  I  suppose  that  there  was  some  few 
that  did  not  drink  any ;  but  if  so,  your  humble  servant,  the  writer  of 
this  note,  had  not  the  pleasure  of  their  acquaintance.  I  was  truly  glad 
when  we  got  to  Richmond,  where  we  had  a  partial  rest.  We  still 
had  whiskey  in  abundance,  but  it  was  not  long  before  it  was  less 
plentiful  and  harder  to  get  at,  and  I  was  truly  glad  of  it,  and  then  times 
went  on  more  smoothly,  and  it  was  for  the  better  of  us  all. 


LEESBURG,  LOUDON  Co.,  VA.,  Jan.  24th,  1861. 
When  I  last  wrote  you  I  was  at  the  City  of  Richmond. 
In  that  letter  I  stated  to  you  that  I  did  not  think  we 
would  remain  there  lonjr,  and  such  really  turned  out  to  be 
the  case.  We  left  Richmond  on  the  20th,  and  arrived  at 
Manassas  Junction  the  21st,  but  only  remained  there  'a 
few  hours,  and  then  went  on  some  eight  or  ten  miles  to  a 
little  place  called  Gainesville,  and  remained  there  all  night. 
On  the  22d  we  for  the  first  time  took  up  the  line  of  march 
on  foot,  and  on  the  23d  arrived  at  this  place.  On  our 
route  we  passed  the  old  homestead  of  President  Monroe, 
a  very  beautiful  place.  We  are  camped  here,  near  the 
town  of  Leesburg,  which  is  on  the  Potomac  River.  We 
are  at  an  advanced  post,  being  in  advance  of  our  main 
army.  We  are  said  to  be  only  twenty-seven  miles  above 
the  City  of  (Abraham)  Washington.  This  is  a  rich  and 


1 2  History  of  th e  Fo urth  Reg im en  t 


beautiful  country  and  a  great  place  for  cattle,  and  the 
land  literally  flows  with  milk  and  honey.  So  we  are  by  no. 
means  suffering  for  rations,  as  provisions  of  all  kinds  are 
plentiful  here  and  easily  obtained.  We  are  now  in  plain 
view  of  the  mountains,  and  nearly  in  view  of  the  men  we 
came  to  see,  as  they  are  just  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
and  our  business  here  now  is  to  try  to  keep  them  from 
crossing  over;  but  if  they  do  succeed  in  crossing  the  Poto 
mac  River,  some  of  them  at  least  will  have  to  cross  Jor 
dan,  and  some  few  of  them  may  have  to  cross  over  another 
noted  stream,  called  the  River  of  Styx,  and  that  is  the  last 
watering  place  this  side  of  Hades. 

Whilst  in  camp  near  Richmond  I  found  a  beautiful  little 
money  purse.  I  took  it  away  off  in  the  woods  to  examine 
my  fortune.  With  trembling  hand  and  palpitating  heart 
I  opened  it;  it  contained  a  negro  woman's  pass  and  two 
copper  cents.  Is  it  possible  that  I  can  ever  lack  for  money 
again.  I  got  me  a  new  pair  of  shoes  while  at  Richmond, 
and  if  I  have  to  travel  much  more  in  them  I  will  have 
corns  to  dispose  of.  The  Virginians  here  say  that^he 
Yankees  are  as  afraid  as  death  of  South  Carolinians.  I 
don't  know  about  that,  but  I  do  know  that  South  Caro 
linians  are  not  afraid  of  them. 

Called  to  drill.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


LEESBUKG,  LOUDON  Co.,  YA.,  June  30th,  1861. 
Nothing  new  of  import  has  occurred  here  since  I  wrote 
to  you  on  the  24th  inst.  The  Yankee  Doodles  have  not 
as  yet  crossed  the  river  as  I  have  heard  of,  but  as  I  have 
before  said,  if  they  do  cross  we  will  try  our  best  to  make 
them  recross.  They  are  nearly  in  sight  of  us,  but  they  are 
in  Maryland  and  we  in  Virginia,  the  river  being  the  line. 
They  may  and  no  doubt  will  cross,  but  if  not  I  feel  prett}' 
certain  that  we  will  not  cross  over  to  them.  I  am  no  gen 
eral,  corporal  or  scoundrel,  but  my  private  opinion  is  that 
it  would  be  very  bad  logic  in  us  to  cross  over  to  them,  as 
I  don't  think  we  should  be  the  invaders.  It  is  an  accepted 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  13 

fact  here  now  that  we  will  have  some  hard  fighting  to  do 
before  a  great  while.  If  so  I  say  let  it  come;  that  is  what 
we  came  here  for,  and  the  sooner  we  go  at  it  perhaps  the 
sooner  it  will  end,  and  I  mean  to  do  what  fighting  I  have 
to  do  as  soon  as  possible  and  get  back  home  to  Dixie. 

Since  commencing  this  letter  I  have  been  put  on  guard. 
I  was  put  on  at  eight  o'clock  this  morning  and  will  be 
relieved  at  eight  to-morrow  morning.  I  am  now  writfng 
on  my  knee  at  the  guard  house,  when  off  of  post,  wThich  is 
two-thirds  of  the-  time;  so  excuse  bad  writing,  for  my 
chances  at  writing  are  very  bad.  Make  yourself  no  uneas 
iness  about  me  if  you  can  help  it.  1  will  try. and  do  the 
best  I  can  for  No.  1.  I  have  not  missed  a  roll  call  since  I 
came  into  the  service.  I  send  my  best  wishes  to  Colonel 
Parke,  E.  J.  Earle,  A.  M.  Holland,  and  all  inquiring 
friends.  I  hope  the  neighbors  will  treat  you  well.  I  have 
come  here  and  left  everything  that  is  dear  to  me  on  earth 
to  fight  and  suffer  all  manner  of  hardships  to  protect 
their  property,  not  my  own,  w7hilst  many  of  them  who 
have  property  are  still  at  home  with  their  families — in  fact 
they  are  the  ones  as  a  general  rule  that  stay  at  home;  and 
I  think  honor  dictates  and  justice  demands  that  they 
should  see  to  the  families  of  the  poor  horny-handed  sol 
diers  who  are  doing  their  fighting,  hundreds  of  miles  frarn 
home  and  friends.  Will  we  poor  soldiers  ever  be  recom 
pensed  for  what  we  are  doing?  I  fear  not.  I  now  go  on 
post.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE.— In  the  above  letter,  written  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  you  will 
see  that  I  doubted  the  poor  soldiers  ever  getting  anything  for  what 
they  were  then  undergoing  for  the  wealthy  men  of  the  South.  I  know 
very  well  that  there  has  been  several  theoYies  advanced  as  being  the 
cause  of  the  war,  and  it  cannot  be  successfully  denied  but  that  it  was 
the  negro,  and  nothing  but  the  negro, — a  fact  which  any  chuckle- 
headed  school  boy  is  familiar  with.  But  as  to  the  poor  soldier  ever 
getting  anything,  I  am  about  of  the  same  opinion  now  that  I  was  thirty 
years  ago.  It  don't  seem  to  matter  how  old  or  how  poor  and  infirm  a 
soldier  may  be,  he  can't  get  anything  unless  he  was  nearly  killed  in 
timefof  the  war.  It  reminds  me  of  an  anecdote  that  I  will  here  relate  : 
A  man  that  in  former  times  did  a  great  deal  of  hauling  to  Augusta, 
Ga.,  was  in  the  habit  of  having  something  crank  to  say  to  persons  that 


14  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 


he  would  pass.  On  one  occasion  his  son  John  was  driving  the  wagon 
and  he  was  walking  behind.  He  passed  an  old  man  sitting  in  a  door 
shoemaking,  but  said  nothing  to  him,  but  a  little  further  on  he  came 
to  a  stout-looking  young  man  chopping  wood.  "  Is  that  your  father 
back  yonder  that  was  shoemaking,"  he  added.  "  Yes,"  replied  the 
young  man.  "  You  had  better  go  to  your  father,  for  he  dropped  dead 
just  as  we  passed  the  house."  The  young  man  dropped  his  axe  and 
ran  to  the  house,  but  soon  returned,  cursing  and  abusing  the  man  in 
a  dreadful  manner.  The  man  called  out,  "John,  come  back  here  quick ; 
this  man  is  cursing  me  all  to  pieces  because  his  daddy  is  not  dead." 
So  they  don't  give  the  poor,  infirm  soldier  anything  because  he  was 
not  killed  in  the  war.  The  poor,  infirm  soldier  should  get  something 
after  he  becomes  of  a  certain  age. 


[This  letter  is  rather  a  continuation  of  the  preceding 
one,  written  June  30th,  1861.] 

Next  Thursday  will  be  the  Fourth  of  July,  and  on  that 
day  the  United  States  Congress  will  meet,  arid  then  it  will 
soon  be  known  what  we  may  depend  upon.  The  universal 
opinion  here  is  that  we  will  be  pushed  forward.  As  to  my 
own  part  I  feel  confident  that  such  will  be  the  case.  There 
was  a  false  alarm  here  last  night.  It  was  reported  that 
the  enemy  had  crossed  the  river  in  large  numbers.  We 
were  ordered  to  pack  up  every  thing  and  cook  up  two  days' 
rations,  in  case  we  should  have  to  fall  back  to  our  main 
army,  in  the  vicinity  of  Manassas  Junction,  which  we  un 
doubtedly  would  have  had  to  do  if  the  report  had  proved 
true,  for  our  regiment,  if  they  are  South  Carolinians,  could 
not  long  continue  against  the  whole  Federal  army.  We 
remained  up  all  night  with  our  equipments  on  and  our 
muskets  at  our  sides  ^  but  the  report  proved  false,  if  in 
deed  there  was  such  a  report  at  all.  I  think  it  Avas  done 
to  try  our  pluck.  I  am  confident  there  is  none  of  the 
enemy  on  this  side  of  the  river  in  this  vicinity.  There 
were  some  ladies  here  the  other  day  from  Maryland,  and 
they  say  that  if  we  never  die  till  the  Yankees  kill  us  that 
we  will  live  till  we  turn  to  mules  and  jackasses.  I  hope 
not,  for  some  of  us  are  too  much  like  the  latter  aifimal 
already.  The  ladies  of  Leesburg  and  vicinity  corne  here 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.      .  15 

every  day  by  hundreds  and  bring  us  all  kinds  of  good 
things  to  eat, —  milk  and  honey,  butter  and  eggs,  and 
almost  any  and  everything  you  could  mention.  These 
ladies  are  quite  nice  looking,  and  some  of  them  are  said 
to  be  quite  wealthy.  Tf  you  could  be  here  on  those  occa 
sions  you  would  think  that  there  was  not  a  married  man 
in  the  regiment  but  me.  A  great  many  of  them  are  mar 
ried  men,  but  they  are  not  obliged  to  say  so. 

We  all  went  out  yesterday  to  try  our  guns.  We  shot  at 
a  barrel,  two  or  three  hundred  yards  off,  placed  on  a  fence. 
Jim  Loftin  and  myself,  and  one  or  two  more,  was  all  that 
hit  the  barrel,  of  my  company.  If  our  men  shoot  at  the 
enemy  like  they  did  at  that  barrel,  they  will  not  kill  very 
many  of  the  enemy  unless  they  climb  like  squirrels  or  get 
in  the  ground  like  moles;  for  those  that  did  not  hit  the 
tree  top  hit  the  ground  about  half  way  to  the  target. 
I  will  finish  when  preaching  is  over. 

EVENING,  2  O'CLOCK. — Just  as  I  stopped  writing  this 
morning  it  set  in  to  raining,  and  is  raining  yet;  so  we 
have  no  preaching.  I  went  over  to  Leesburg  the  other 
day,  and  amongst  other  things  I  got  was  a  fine  comb,  but 
of  course  I  did  not  need  it,  for  I  don't  believe  that  there  is 

one in  my  head.     You  may  perhaps  say  there  may  be 

some  on  it.  You  say  that  you  don't  feel  like  you  would 
ever  see  me  again.  My  dear,  banish  all  such  thoughts. 
Far  from  you  I  feel  quite  the  reverse.  Try  and  feel  the 
same  way.  All  dangers  are  not  deaths.  Keep  all  the 
letters  that  I  send  you,  as  I  may  want  to  refer  to  them  at 
some  future  time. 

Direct  to  "Tudor  Hall,  Leesburg,  Loudon  County,  Va." 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


LEESBURG,  VA.,  July  2d,  1861. 

I  did  not  intend  writing  again  quite  so  soon,  but  having 
an  opportunity  of  sending  a  letter  by  hand,  I  will  there 
fore  scribble  a  few  lines  more,  as  I  am  well  aware  that  I 
write  none  too  often.  So  far  as  you  are  concerned  there 


16  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 


has  nothing  important  occurred  since  I  wrote  to  you  last, 
June  30th.  We  have  all  sorts  of  rumors  here,  but  none  of 
them  have  any  foundation  whatever,  and  therefore  I  will 
not  report  them  here.  I  have  been  reading  and  writing 
letters  for  the  boys  nearly  all  day.  I  undoubtedly  write 
more  letters  than  any  other  man  in  the  regiment. 

It  is  quite  cool  here  to-day.  I  am  wearing  my  coat  all 
day.  This  is  quite  a  healthy  place  here.  Our  regiment  is 
enjoying  very  good  health  here  at  present.  I  doubt  very 
much  if  one  could  take  the  same  number  of  persons  any 
where  in  the  country  arid  find  less  sickness  amongst  them 
than  is  to  be  found  in  our  regiment.  We  are  all  anxiously 
awaiting  the  Fourth  of  July;  it  is  only  two  days  off. 
After  it  is  over  it  will  not  be  long  till  we  know  what  to 
depend  upon.  A  great  many  men  here  seem  to  flatter 
themselves  that  there  will  be  but  little  fighting  done.  I 
can't  say  how  it  may  be,  but  I  very  much  doubt  that  doc 
trine.  We  will  all  soon  knowr  more  about  it.  Now,  in 
giving  yon  my  ideas  about  things,  don't  take  it  for 
granted  that  I  am  right.  I  may  not  be.  I  only  give  you 
my  private  opinion  about  those  things;  but  what  I  do 
state  to  you  for  a  fact  you  may  at  all  times  be  assured 
that  such  is  a  fact.  At  all  events  I  shall  state  nothing 
as  a  fact  unless  I  have  the  best  of  reasons  for  believing 
it.  When  I  write  you  that  such  and  such  is  a  rumor, 
you  may  put  it  down  as  a  rumor;  neither  need  you  pufc 
much  confidence  in  rumor,  for  old  Dame  Rumor  is  a  noto- 
rions  liar.  She  will  actually  tell  a  lie  when  the  truth  would 
answer  the  best  purpose. 

I  will  write  again  soon. 

Yours  affectionately, 

J.  W.  REID. 


LEESBURG,  LOUDON  Co.,  VA.,  July  5,  1861. 

Nothing  of  importance  has  occurred  since  I  wrote  to 
you  last. 

Night  before  last  some  of  our  men  got  with  a  negro 
who  lives  near  here,  and  told  him  they  were  Yankees,  and 
made  arrangements  with  him  to  poison  the  whole  regi- 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  17 

merit.  He  agreed  to  put  poison  in  pies,  cakes  and  the 
like,  and  distribute  them  amongst  us  all  he  could,  and  I 
understand  that  he  was  preparing  to  do  so  when  he  was 
arrested.  He  was  tried  this  morning  and  found  guilty  of 
intended  murder.  He  has  just  now  finished  taking  the 
most  powerful  whipping  that  I  ever  saw  any  human  being 
take.  He  has  just  now  gone  home.  Was  our  men  justi 
fiable  in  what  they  done?  Every  one  can  answer  this 
question  in  their  own  way.  On  yesterday,  the  Fourth, 
the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  Leesburg  and  surrounding 
country  came  here  in  great  numbers.  The  ladies  pre 
sented  us  with  a  beautiful  flag.  A  Virginia  officer  made 
the  presentation  speech,  in  the  name  of  the  ladies.  The 
acceptation  speech  was  made  by  Warren  D.  Wilkes,  of 
Anderson,  in  the  name  of  the  regiment.  We  all  agreed 
that  it  should  never  trail  in  the  dirt.  The  Fourth  is  over. 
We  will  soon  know  what  to  depend  upon.  May  the  God 
of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob,  the 
God  of  all  mankind,  be  with  you  and  with  us  all. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

i 

NOTE. — In  those  letters  from  Leesburg  I  wrote  a  great  many  things 
that  I  am  now  leaving  out,  as  they  would  be  of  little  interest  to  the 
reader  of  the  day.  I  will  therefore  hurry  on  to  times  and  things  more 
exciting.  Although  an\-  one  still  living  who  was  in  the  old  Fourth 
Regiment  at  that  time,  will  look  back  to  these  times  that  I  am  now 
writing  about  with  more  pleasure  than  at  any  period  of  the  war ;  for  at 
Leesburg  we  not  only  lived  like  kings  but  had  the  company  and  the 
sympathy  of  as  fine  a  set  of  ladies  as  lived  on  God's  green  earth.  If 
these  writings  should  ever  find  their  way  into  the  hands  of  any  of  the 
old  citizens  about  Leesburg,  I  presume  they  will  recollect  the  Fourth 
of  July,  1861.  Our  flag  never  did  trail  in  the  dust 


LEESBURG,  YA.,  SUNDAY  EVENING,     ) 
1  o'clock,  July  7th,  1861.  } 

As  I  don't  expect  to  close  this  letter  for  several  days,  I 
shall  not  say  anything  about  the  war  to-day.  We  are 
camped  here  within  one  mile  of  the  town  of  Leesburg,  and 
in  plain  view  of  the  Maryland  mountains,  distant  about 


18  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

ten  miles.  We  are  camped  in  a-  beautiful  grove  of  oak, 
hickory  and  other  forest  trees.  The  grove  contains  some 
five  or  six  acres.  All  around  except  on  one  side  are  old 
fields,  grown  up  with  grass  and  clover,  on  which  are  graz 
ing  a  great  many  fine  cattle.  It  is  stated  here  that  this 
beautiful  grove  was  once  a  Methodist  camp  ground,  and 
a  more  beautiful  place  could  not  have  been  selected.  It  is 
also  said  to  have  once  been  the  camping  ground  of  Gen 
eral  Braddock  during  the  English  and  French  Avar.  I 
have  just  returned  from  preaching.  An  old  Virginia 
preacher  preached  for. us.  The  opening  hymn  was,  "Am  I 
a  Soldier  of  the  Cross,"  &c.  His  text  was  12th  chapter 
Romans,  llth  verse:  "Not  slothful  in  business,  fervent 
in  spirit,  fearing  the  Lord."  He  preached  an  excellent 
sermon.  It  made  me  think  of  home.  I  am  truly  glad  that 
we  can  still  hear  the  Gospel  preached  here,  if  we  are  in  the 
army.  God  is  everywhere.  He  is  looking  over  us  here, 
just  the  same  a&  he  would  under  our  own  vine  and  fig  tree. 
As  much  as  I  regret  it,  I  will  have  to  inform  you  that 
it  was  a  funeral  occasion.  Death  has  already  entered  our 
ranks.  There  has  been  three  of  our  regiment  to  die  this 
past  week.  A  Mr.  Pilgram,  of  Captain  Long's  company; 
a  Mr.  Martin,  of  the  same  company,  and  a  Mr.  Anderson, 
of  Captain  Griffin's  company.  They  all  three  died  this 
past  week.  Our  Adjutant,  Samuel  Wilkes,  is  sick,  but 
I  don't  think  he  is  dangerously  sick.  1  will  now  stop 
writing  for  the  present. 

EVENING,  5  O'CLOCK.— I  have  just  returned  from  preach 
ing  again.  Our  Chaplain,  Mr.  Guin,  preached  this  evening 
a  very  good  sermon.  Mr.  Gnin  is  an  old  acquaintance  of 
mine.  He  lives  at  Greenville;  his  wife  is  Laura  Guiu.  I 
found  a  beautiful  pearl-handled  knife  the  other  day  that  I 
intend  giving  to  you  some  day  if  I  don't  find  the  owner  of 
it.  I  must  now  stop  and  write  for  others. 

MONDAY  EVENING,  5  O'CLOCK,  JULY  STH.— Nothing  defi 
nite  from  Washington  yet.  Report  says  that  Lincoln  in 
his  address  to  Congress  advises  the  raising  of  a  large 
army.  I  expect  this  is  true.  I  could  not  tell  vou  the 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  19 

tenth  part  of  the  rumors  that  are  now  going:  the  rounds, 
some  of  which,  if  we  believed  them,  would  make  us  think 
that  we  would  soon  be  at  home  again.  Other  reports,  if 
believed,  would  make  us  doubt  if  we  ever  got  home  or 
not,  Now,  this  is  the  same  old  dame  that  I  told  you  was 
such  a  liar.  I  will  stop  again  for  more  rumors. 

TUESDAY  EVENING,  5  O'CLOCK,  JULY  OTH.— Nothing  im 
portant.  I  expect  to  write  a  letter  to  Colonel  Parks  in  a 
day  or  two.  You  will  doubtless  hear  from  me  when  he 
gets  it. 

WEDNESDAY  MORNING,  5  O'CLOCK,  JULY  K)TH.— Every 
thing  in  an  uproar.  We  are  preparing  to  leave  here.  We 
are  going  down  the  river;  trouble  is  before  us.  No  doubt 
all  dangers  are  not  deaths.  I  must  now  close  this  long, 
uninteresting  letter,  and  prepare  to  go  —  I  know  not 
where.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.   W.  REID. 


FRYING  PAN  CHURCH,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

,  July  12th,  1861. 
I  closed  my  last  letter  in  a  hurry,  to  prepare  to  move. 
,YVe  left  Leesburg  the  same  day  and  came  on  to  this  place, 
some  twenty-five  miles.  We  were  nearly  t^n  days  coming. 
I  don't  know  how  long  we  \ull  remain  here,  but  I  hope  it 
will  not  be  long,  for  I  do  not  like  the  place  at  all.  Tell 
Colonel  Parks  to  read  the  letter  to  you  that  I  sent  him ; 
telJ  him  that  the  Louisiana  Battaiion  that  I  wrote  to  him 
about  has  left  us  and  gone,  it  is  said,  to  Faifax  Court 
House.  It  is  also  said  that  we  will  go  there  shortly;  I 
don't  profess  to  know  whether  it  is  true  or  not.  It  is 
also  said  that  the  Butler  Guards,  of  Greenville,  are  there. 
If  so  I  would  like  to  see  them,  as  I  am  acquainted  with 
nearly  every  man  in  the  company.  One  of  the  men  of 
Wheat's  Battalion  had  his  leg  cut  off  before  they  left  us. 
He  is  now  dying.  Report  (who  is  nearly  as  bij;  a  liar  as 
rumor)  says  that  some  of  the  enemy  is  now  occupying  our 


20  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

old  position  at  Leesburg.    I  don't  believe  it;  but  if  they 
are  there,  I  want  to  go  and  drive  them  back  to  Maryland, 
or  somewhere  else.    I  shall  say  but  little  more  at  present, 
as  it  has  been  but  a  day  or  two  since  I  wrote  to  you. 
Direct  your  next  letter  to  Manassas  Junction,  Va. 

Yours  affectionately, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — Wheat's  Battalion  did  not  go  to  Fairfax  Court  House,  but 
halted  about  one  mile  from  us.  Neither  did  we  go  back  to  L/eesburg. 
The  man  I  spoke  of  as  having  his  leg  cut  off  died  that  evening. 


FRYING  PAN,  VA.,  July  13th,  1861. 

I  now  commence  another  letter  to  you,  and  may  not 
finish  it  for  several  days. 

We  were  alarmed  last  night  about  dark  by  a  report 
that  we  were  surrounded  by  about  twenty  thousand  of 
the  enemy,  and  that  our  only  chance  of  escape  was  to  cut 
our  way  through  them,  and  make  our  way  as  best  we 
could  to  Manassas  Junction,  where  General  Beauregard  is 
with  our  main  army.  Our  officers  told  us  that  if  we  failed 
in  this  we  would  all  be  cut  to  pieces  or  captured.  We 
were  ordered  by  General  Evans  to  prepare  for  action. 
Provided  an  attack  should  be  made  in  ten  minutes  all 
was  ready.  Each  man  drew  forty-five  rounds  of  cart 
ridges,  and  had  everything  in  wagons  ready  for  an  emer 
gency.  We  thought  that  twenty  thousand,  and  five 
thousand  of  them  cavalry,  rather  too  much  for  eight  or 
nine  hundred  of  us,  although  it  was  our  determination  to 
fight  our  way  through  them.  A  large  picket  was  sent  out 
to  examine  the  situation.  They  returned  this  morning, 
and  report  no  enemy  in  this  immediate  vicinity;  perhaps 
none  nearer  than  Alexandria.  However,  there  is  no  doubt 
in  my  mind  but  that  we  will  have  hard  fighting  to  do 
before  long.  Everything  points  in  that  direction. 

Two  more  men  of  Wheat's  Battalion  got  killed  acci 
dentally  yesterday.  WTheat's  Battalion  and  our  regi 
ment  and  one  hundred  and  eighty  mounted  men  are  all  the 
troops  we  have  in  this  vicinity.  I  will  now  stop  a  while. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  21 

JULY  14TH.— All  is  excitement  arid  confusion  here  at  pres 
ent.  Yesterday,  just  after  I  stopped  writing,  we  got  the 
news  that  two  of  our  regiments  had  started  to  join  us, 
and  that  the  enemy  had  got  in  between  them  and  us,  and 
that  they  were  retreating  back  towards  Manassas  Junc 
tion  ;  so  we  were  ordered  to  pack  up  and  move  imme 
diately.  In  a  few  minutes  we  were  en  route  for  this  place, 
distant  some  two  or  three  miles.  We  call  this  place  Camp 
Holcomb.  I  hope  that  we  have  not  jumped  out  of  the 
frying  pan  into  the  fire.  I  like  this  place  better,  provided 
an  attack  is  made,  than  I  did  frying  pan,  as  there  is  an 
old  railroad  cut  here,  some  twenty  feet  deep,  which  will  be 
greatly  in  our  favor,  if  they  come  on  us  here.  Ten  o'clock, 
and  our  pickets  still  fail  to  find  a  foe  near  us.  Some  of 
old  Rumor's  tales  I  reckon.  We  heard  some  cannonading 
last  night  in  the  direction  of  Alexandria,  where  Mr.  Rumor 
says  there  are  twenty  thousand  of  the  enemy  and  fifteen 
thousand  Confederate  troops.  I  have  heard  several  re 
ports  from  there  to-day,  all  without  foundation.  If  the 
fight  comes  on  I  will  do  the  best  1  can.  I  am  determined 
not  to  run  unless  the  boys  all  run  with  me.  I  will  die  in 
the  battle  field  first.  I  will  stop  a  while  again. 

MONDAY  EVP:NING,  4  O'CLOCK,  JULY  15TH.— There  was  a 
man  here  to-day  from  Alexandria.  He  says  we  are  as  safe 
here  as  we  would  be  in  the  middle  of  South  Carolina.  I 
wrould  much  rather  risk  it  there  than  here,  so  far  as  I  am 
personally  concerned.  There  are  some  men  here  who  try 
to  make  themselves  and  everything  else  look  as  big  as 
possible,  and  every  rumor  that  they  hear  they  \vrite  it 
home  as  facts,  and  that  is  calculated  to  keep  the  people 
at  home  always  excited  and  uneasy.  Don't  listen  to  every 
thing  you  hear,  but  what  I  write  to  you  shall  be  facts,  as 
near  as  possible.  Another  thing  I  warn  you  against,  and 
that  is,  what  you  see  in  the  papers.  A  great  many  take 
what  they  read  in  the  papers  as  gospel  truths.  The  papers 
are  like  the  men ;  they  publish  every  rumor  as  an  estab 
lished  fact.  Don't  believe  any  thing  you  hear,  and  only 
about  half  what  you  see.  I  will  now  stop  again  and  wait 
for  more  lies. 


22  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 


TUESDAY  EVENING,  JULY  16. — No  positive  news  yet.  I 
understand,  from  a  pretty  reliable  source,  that  there  is  a 
great  many  of  the  enemy  whose  time  will  soon  "expire1, 
having  only  volunteered  for  six  months.  I  believe  this 
report  to  be  true,  and  if  so  an  attack  is  almost  sure  to  be 
made  before  their  time  is  out,  as  it  will  take  some  consid 
erable  time  to  get  others  in  their  place  and  have  them 
ready  for  service.  I  believe  this  to  be  precisely  the  state 
of  affairs  now ;  and  if  so,  we  will  most  assuredly  have  them 
to  fight  soon.  I  am  not  uneasy,  for  I  want  it  to  come, 
because  I  want  it  over  with;  so  I  presume  that  Ave  will 
have  to  whip  1hose  that  are  here  now,  and  then  whip 
their  new  army  next  Spring,  or  let  them  whip  us,  as  the 
case  may  be.  I  will  now  drop  that  subject  and  talk  of 
something  else.  We  are  still  getting  plenty  to  eat,  and 
that  which  is  good  enough  for  anybody.  It  is  good 
enough  for  me.  Again  I  stop  for  news. 

WEDNESDAY  MORNING,  JULY  17rrn. — All  quiet  along  the 
Potomac.  No  exciting  rumors  to-day.  My  eyes  are  quite 
sore;  otherwise  I  am  well.  I  will  now  close  this  long  letter 
before  writing  again.  I  think  we  will  find  something  to 
do.  Don't  be  uneasy. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — In  closing  these  letters  I  always  stated  the  health  of  onr 
immediate  neighbors — naming  each  one  of  them — which  I  omit  now 
as  of  no  importance.  I  generally  taper  off  with  a  little  honey  and  sugar 
talk  to  my  wife,  which  I  also  omit  here,  as  I  don't  believe  it  is  any  of 
your  business  if  I  did  call  her  Snug.  As  to  my  children,  I  have  but 
one — and  have  but  one  yet — a  son,  then  going  to  school.  His  name  is 
Washington  Irving.  Hereafter  when  I  speak  of  Irving,  you  will  know 
who  I  mean.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  war,  when  I  was  an  engineer 
officer,  of  which  I  will  hereafter  speak,  this  same  Irving  came  to  me  in 
Virginia  and  remained  till  the  end  of  the  war,  being  present  at  the 
surrender;  took  the  measles  that  very  day,  and  was  kept  in  the  hospital 
at  Farmerville  until  in  May.  Of  this  I  will  say  more  hereafter. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  23 

PRINCE  WILLIAM  COUNTY,  VA;,  July  23d,  1861. 

"  The  sky  was  darkened ;  we  were  hid  from  the  sun ; 
The  earth  it  did  tremble,  but  the  victory  's  won." 

I  scarcely  know  bow  to  begin,  so  much  has  transpired 
since  I  wrote  to  yuu    last;    but  thank  God  I  have  come 
through  it  all  safe,  and  'am  now  here  to  try  and   tell  you 
something  about  the  things  that  have  just  happened.    As 
you  have  already  been  informed,  we  were  expecting  a  big 
fight.     It  came;  it  is  over;  the  enemy  is  gone.    We  left 
Camp  Holcomb  the  day  that  I   finished   my  last  letter  to 
you,  the  17th  inst.,  and  by  a  rather  forced  march  got  to 
this  place  the  same  day.   On  the  18th  a  battle  was  fought 
four  miles  from  here,  at  a  place  called  McLane'sFord,  which 
would  have  been  called  a  big  battle  in  any  of  our  previous 
wars.    Our  men  drove  the  enemy  back.    I  can't  give  any 
of  the  details,  as  our  regiment  was  not  in  it,  but  bad  as  it 
was,  it  was  only  a  skirmish  by  the  side  of  the  one  we  have 
just  had  at  this  place.    On  Saturday  last,  the  20th,  it 
became  evident  that  the  long-looked-for  battle  was  ap 
proaching.    I  need  riot  undertake  to  describe  to  you  the 
terrors  of  a  big  battle,  so  that  you  could  comprehend  how 
awful  the  sight  and  how  terrible  the  sound  is  or  would  be 
to  you.    The  very  best  of  historians,  or  writers  of  any 
kind,  would  fall  short  in  doing  so,  and  of  course  it  could 
not  reasonably  be  expected  of  me  to  do  so;  but  Twill  now 
proceed  and  give  facts  as  they  occurred  under  my  own 
observation.    On  Saturday  night  I  happened  to  be  on 
guard.    It  also  happened  that  I  was  on  post  (or  vidette). 
Just  before  day,  on  Sunday  morning,  at  which  time  those 
of  us  on  post  nearest  the  big  road,  heard  the  enemy  ap 
proaching.     We  gave  the  alarm,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the 
regiment  was  formed  in  line  of  battle  on  the  hill  overlook 
ing  Stone  Bridge  on  Bull  Run  Creek.    This  was  just  about 
daylight.    The  enemy  did  not  keep  us  long  waiting.    Just 
at  six  o'clock  they  fired  their  first  gun  (a  cannon).    It 
went  over  us,  and  in  a  few  moments  afterwards  a  regular 
firing  was  going  on.    Language  fails  me  in  giving  a  de 
scription  of   last   Sunday's    work.     It   seems   almost   a 
miracle  that  I  could  remain  ten  long  hours  in  such   a 


24  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

battle  and  now  be  here,  unhurt,  writing1  to  you ;  but  such 
is  nevertheless  the  case.  An  unseen  hand  has  carried  me 
through  safe.  When  the  battle  commenced  the  only  troops 
on  the  ground  were  Wheat's  Battalion,  of  Louisiana,  and 
the  Fourth  Regiment  of  South  Carolinians,  commanded 
by  Colonel  J.  B.  E.  Sloan,  of  which  regiment  you  are 
aware  that  I  am  a  member.  These  troops  were  placed  as 
follows :  Six  companies  of  our  regiment  were  placed  on 
the  hill  as  above  stated  ;  Captain  Dean's  company,  to 
which  I  belong,  and  Captain  Humphries'  company  were 
placed  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  some  two  hundred  yards  in 
rear  of  the  regiment,  to  act  as  a  referee.  Captain  Ander 
son's  and  Captain  Kilpat rick's  companies  were  placed — 
the  one  above  and  the  other  below  the  bridge,  in  advance 
of  the  regiment,  to  act  as  skirmishers.  Wheat's  Battalion 
was  placed  a  half  mile  or  so  up  the  creek  to  our  left.  This 
was  precisely  the  position  of  what  troops  was  here 
when  the  battle  commenced,  as  above  stated.  About 
half-past  seven  a  regular  firing  was  going  on,  and  our 
cannons  were  only  two  in  number,  all  we  had  at  that  time. 
About  this  time  it  was  ascertained  that  several  thousand 
of  the  enemy  had  crossed  the  creek  higher  up  and  had 
attacked  Wheat's  Battalion  in  large  numbers.  At  this 
juncture  the  six  companies  under  Colonel  Sloan  were  or 
dered  by  General  Evans  to  go  to  Wheat's  assistance.  The 
two  companies  of  regulars  (to  which  remember  I  belonged) 
were  ordered  to  occupy  the  position  that  had  been  occu 
pied  by  the  other  six  companies  on  the  hill.  Just  after 
this  our  reinforcements  commenced  coming  in  to  Wheat's 
assistance,  but  none  to  our  assistance  on  the  hill  over 
looking  Stone  Bridge.  By  this  time  the  battle  became 
pretty  hot,  the  enemy  still  advancing  in  large  numbers. 
Our  reinforcements  were  also  coming  in  rapidly  by  this 
time.  The  firing  had  not  ceased  for  a  moment  from  the 
time  it  first  commenced;  the  balls  and  shells  poured 
amongst  us  like  hail.  About  twelve  o'clock  two  small 
cannons  camp  to  our  assistance  (we  on  the  hill).  They 
fired  a  few  rounds  only,  the  enemy  advancing  in  such 
overwhelming  numbers  that  the  ten  cannons  ceased  firing, 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  25 

and  was  compelled  to  fall  back.  The  two  companies  above 
mentioned  also  fell  back  a  few  hundred  yards.  We  had 
not  left  our  position  but  a  few  minutes  till  the  enemy  was 
occupying  the  position  that  we  had  just  left.  All  this 
time  the  battle  was  raging  tremendously  higher  up  the 
creek.  The  enemy  had  crossed  the  creek  by  thousands, 
but  our  men  up  there  were  standing  their  ground  bravely. 
I  did  not  know  how  or  at  what  time  Kilpatrick's  and  An 
derson's  companies  got  away  from  the  creek,  but  they  did 
get  away  some  how,  and  fought  till  the  battle  ended  in 
another  part  of  the  field.  A  little  after  one  o'clock  our 
two  companies  got  around  to  where  the  hotest  of  the  fight 
was  going  on.  and  there  remained  amid  sulphur  and 
smoke,  balls  and  shells,  death  and  carnage,  until  the 
battle  ended,  late  in  the  evening,  because  we  failed  any 
longer  to  find  a  foe  to  fight.  They  were  gone.  The  vic 
tory  was  complete.  We  are  now  occupying  the  same 
ground  that  we  did  before  the  battle.  As  this  letter  can't 
go  before  to-morrow  I  will  finish  in  the  morning. 

STONE  BRIDGE  BATTLE  FIELD,  JULY  24TH.— As  before 
stated,  I  cannot  give  you  an  idea  of  the  terrors  of  this 
battle.  I  believe  that  it  was  as  hard  a  contested  battle 
as  was  ever  fought  on  the  American  continent,  or  perhaps 
anywhere  else.  For  ten  long  hours  it  almost  seemed  that 
heaven  and  earth  was  coming  together;  for  ten  long  hours 
it  literally  rained  balls,  shells  and  other  missiles  of  destruc 
tion.  The  firing  did  not  cease  for  a  moment.  Try  to 
picture  to  yourself  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  men, 
all  loading  and  firing  as  fast  as  they  could.  It  was  truly 
terrific.  The  cannons,  although  they  make  a  great  noise, 
wTere  nothing  more  than  pop  guns  compared  with  the  tre 
mendous  thundering  noise  of  the  thousands  of  muskets. 
The  sight  of  the  dead,  the  cries  of  the  wounded,  the  thun 
dering  noise  of  the  batttle,  can  never  be  put  on  paper.  It 
must  be  seen  and  heard  to  be  comprehended.  The  dead, 
the  dying  and  the  wounded ;  friend  and  foe,  all  mixed  up 
together;  friend  and  foe  embraced  in  death;  some  crying 
for  water;  some  praying  their  last  prayers;  some  trying  to 


26  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

whisper  to  a  friend  their  last  farewell  message  to  their 
loved  ones  at  home.  It  is  heartrending.  I  cannot  go  any 
further.  Mine  eyes  are  damp  with  tears.  I  will  now  close 
this  letter.  Perhaps  in  my  next  I  will  say  something  more 
of  the  Waterloo  of  America.  I  should  have  stated  above 
that  Jefferson  Davis,  General  Johnson  and  General  Beau- 
regard  all  came  amongst  us  late  in  the  evening.  We  gave 
them  a  yell. 

Although  the  fight  is  over  the  field  is  yet  quite  red  with 
blood  from  the  wounded  and  the  dead. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — Some  years  ago  I  read  a  history  of  the  late  war,  written  by 
some  Northern  man— I  don't  recollect  the  author's  name — and  in  giving 
a  description  of  this  battle  he  says,  that  when  the  attack  was  made 
that  morning,  there  were  fifteen  regiments  of  Confederate  troops  on 
the  ground  at  the  commencement.  This  statement  I  flatly  deny.  There 
are  hundreds  of  men  still  living  that  will  corroborate  what  I  have  stated 
— that  is,  that  Wheat's  Battalion  and  the  Fourth  South  Carolina  Regi 
ment  was  all  that  was  there  at  the  beginning,  or  about  fifteen  com 
panies.  It  is  true  there  were  other  troops  not  far  off,  but  the  battle  had 
been  opened  some  time  before  they  commenced  coming  in.  As  before 
stated,  there  was  but  one  regiment  and  one  battalion  on  the  ground,  or 
fifteen  companies,  instead  of  regiments,  and  the  future  historian  will 
put  it  so,  if  he  puts  it  correctly.  The  same  author,  after  going  on  in 
this  erroneous  fashion  for  some  time,  at  length  caps  the  climax  by 
saying  that  late  in  the  evening  the  Federal  army  gave  way  in  good 
order.  If  that  was  good  order  I  would  like  for  the  same  author  to  tell 
me  what  it  would  take  to  constitute  a  rout ;  for  they  ran  as  fast  as  fast 
as  their  legs  could  carry  them,  without  any  regard  to  discipline,  army 
regulations,  or  anything  else  but  self-preservation.  They  threw  away 
everything  they  had,  and  then  carried  themselves  away  at  the  rate  of 
ten  knots  an  hour.  Good  order  1  Please  let  me  hear  from  a  regular 
rout. 


STONE  BRIDGE  BATTLEFIELD,  | 

PRINCE  WILLIAM  COUNTY,  VA.,  July  28,  1861.  j 
A  few  lines  in  a  hurry,  as  we  are  preparing  to  leave  this 
place  for  one  where  water  will  be  more  convenient.    I  will 
give  you  a  few  more  items  about  our  big  fight  before  I 
leave  the  battle  ground.    It  is  said  we  fought  about  three 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  27 

to  one  on  the  21st.  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  know  how 
many  was  killed  and  wounded  on  either  side,  but  there 
was  most  assuredly  a  great  many.  I  went  over  what  I 
could  of  the  battlefield  the  evening-  after  the  battle  ended. 
The  sight  was  appalling  in  the  extreme.  There  were  men 
shot  in  every  part  of  the  body,  from  the  crown  of  the  head 
to  the  sole  of  the  foot.  Heads,  legs,  arms,  and  other  parts 
of  human  bodies  were  lying  scattered  all  over  the  battle 
field.  The  next  day  after  the  battle  I  went  two  or  three 
miles  out  along  the  road  that  the  enemy  had  traveled  in 
their  retreat.  It  seemed  that  what  they  did  not  leave  on 
the  battlefield  they  had  thrown  away  after  they  started. 
The  road  was  completely  blockaded  with  wagons,  cannon, 
caisons  and  other  vehicles,  as  far  as  I  went,  and  muskets 
were  scattered  about  by  thousands;  knapsacks,  haver 
sacks  and  the  like  literally  covered  the  ground.  I  think 
we  got  all  the  cannon  they  had,  which  was  something 
over  sixty  in  number,  including  the  famous  Sherman  Bat 
tery,  and  one  very  noted  cannon  called  "Long  Tom."  I 
think  we  got  about  all  the  small  arms  they  had.  We 
also  took  a  great  many  prisoners  and  sundries  by  the  thou 
sand.  It  is  said  that  it  was  their  regular  army  that  we 
fought.  I  don't  think  that  we  will  have  another  big  fight 
soon,  as  it  will  be  next  Spring  before  they  can  raise  an 
other  army  and  equip  it  ready  for  service.  I  talked  with 
Colonel  E.  P.  Jones,  of  Greenville,  the  day  after  the  fight, 
and  he  and  I  both  were  of  opinion  that  we  ought  to 
have  followed  the  enemy  when  they  retreated  (in  good 
order),  but  there  are  heads  here  that  have  more  in  them 
than  is  in  ours,  and  in  all  probability  more  on  them. 
There  were  a  great  many  narrow  escapes  during  the  fight ; 
a  great  many  had  holes  shot  in  their  clothing,  and  some 
of  them  at  several  places.  A  young  man  of  my  company 
named  Mathew  Parker  had  two  balls  to  go  through  his  hat. 
It  was  an  old  fashioned  bee  giim  hat,  like  the  one  that  I 
wore  off.  We  both  swapped  off  our  bee  gum  hats  that 
evening.  We  had  choice  amongst  thousands.  We  are 
both  now  wearing  nice  low  crowned  hats,  but  we  don't 


28  History  oi  the  Fourth  Regiment 

know  what  they  cost  or  who  paid  for  them,  neither  do  we 
care.    I  will  have  to  stop,  as  we  are  ready  to  move. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


CAMP  PETTUS,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  YA.,  July  30th,  1861. 
I  have  nothing  interesting:  to  write  at  present.  My  main 
object  in  writing  now  is  that  you  may  know  that  I  am 
still  alive  and  enjoying  good  health;  and  I  presume  that 
is  what  you  are  more  interested  in  and  would  rather 
hear  than  any  news  that  could  be  written  by  me 
or  any  other  person;  therefore  I  shall  say  but  little 
about  the  war  at  present,  but  will  confine  myself  to 
other  nmtters.  1  have  already  written  you  two  letters  pre 
vious  to  this  one,  since  the  battle,  in  which  I  gave  you 
about  all  the  details  of  the  fight  that  I  thought  would  in 
terest  you.  I  did  not  give  you  a  list  of  those  killed  in  my 
company,  as  you  are  acquainted  with  them.  I  will  not  at 
present  give  their  names.  I  sent  the  last  letter  that  I 
wrote  to  you  by  Willis  Dickson,  who  is  gone  to  Cul pepper 
Court  House  to  the  hospital,  sick;  he  may  go  home.  In  it 
I  gave  you  the  particulars  of  our  fight  the  best  I  could 
under  existing  circumstances,  and  what  I  did  state  as 
facts  you  may  depend  upon  as  facts.  I  still  have  a  strong 
presentiment  that  I  will  get  home  again,  some  time.  It 
may  be  a  good  while,  and  there  is  no  telling  at  present 
what  I  may  have  to  go  through  before  I  come,  if  I  do 
come,  only  that  I  will  have  to  encounter  war  and  its  con 
sequences.  Be  that  what  it  may,  try  and  be  as  courage 
ous  as  you  can,  and  I  will  do  the  same.  I  will  try  to  watch 
passing  events  as  closely  as  I  can,  and  from  my  conclu 
sions  accordingly  I  will  on  all  occasions  give  you  my 
opinion  about  things;  but  do  not  take  my  opinions  as 
Gospel  facts,  but  just  take  them  for  what  you  think  they 
are  worth.  A  few  days  after  the  fight  I  found  out  that 
the  Hampton  Legion  was  at  Manassas  Junction.  I  un 
derstood  that  they  had  been  in  the  fight,  but  had  went 
back  to  the  Junction ;  so  I  concluded  to  go  and  find  out 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  29 

whether  my  brother  Reuben  was  still  with  them  or  not. 
I  got  leave  from  my  betters  and  went  on  to  hunt  the 
Legion.  I  found  it  at  the  Junction,  but  Reuben  and  his 
Captain,  Toliver  Bozeman,  both  had  got  a  discharge 
whilst  at  Richmond  and  gone  back  home.  Reuben's  com 
plaint  was  said  to  be  heart  disease.  Heart  disease  is  get 
ting  very  comrnou  here — the  kind  that  I  call  chicken  heart 
disease.  That  is  not  the  kind,  however,  that  Reuben  has 
got.  He  has  had  heart  disease  for  many  years,  as  you 
are  well  aware.  I  found  Jim  Tarrant  and  Bill  Thompson 
and  several  more  of  our  Wilson  Bridge  neighbors  that 
day.  When  I  last  wrote  you  we  Avere  still  on  the  battle 
field.  Yesterday  morning,  the  29th,  we  left  there  and 
came  on  to  this  place,  six  or  seven  miles  nearer  to  Alexan 
dria  and  Washington  City.  It  is  said  that  all  the  carpen 
ters  of  this  brigade,  and  perhaps  others,  are  at  work  on 
a  bridge  between  here  and  Alexandria;  and  there  it  is 
stated  that  we  will  cross  and  attack  the  enemy.  I  don't 
believe  a  word  of  it.  If  we  intended  to  cross  over  at  all 
we  should  have  done  so  on  the  21st.  My  opinion  is  that 
it  would  be  bad  policy  to  cross  now  or  any  other  time  in 
the  future.  We  are  just  not  going  to  do  it.  We  are  right 
here  amongst  several  South  Carolina  regiments  now,  and 
I  know  that  they  will  do  to  tie  the  grape  vine  of  our  canoe 
to.  There  are  troops  here  from  all  parts  of  the  Confederacy, 
from  Dan  even  to  Beersheba;  so  if  we  should  havea.nother 
fight  soon  it  will  be  some  pumpkins;  but  I  don't  think  we 
will,  for  the  one  we  have  just  had  ought  to  satisfy  all 
parties  concerned ;  and  1  don't  know  but  what  it  would 
be  better  to  give  them  another  little  brush  before  they  re 
cruit  up  again.  I  am  on  guard  again,  now  writing  on  a 
drum  head,  the  best  place  that  I  have  had  for  a  long 
time.  I  now  have  to  go  on  post  again.  I  am  now  off  of 
post.  Whilst  on  post  I  saw  any  amount  of  our  old  tea 
plant  called  ditna  that  you  and  I  used  to  gather  on  the 
old  Saluda  hills  when  you  and  I  were  young,  Polly. 
"Should  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot  and  never  brought 
to  mind."  Direct  to  Manassas  Junction,  Va. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


30  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 


NOTE. — With  the  above  letter  I  sent  the  following  lines,  thinking  it 
might  amuse  my  wife  or  any  one  who  might  see  it ;  and  as  I  have  it 
now  before  me  I  will  draw  it  off  just  as  the  original.  Perhaps  it  may 
amuse  the  reader  of  to-day. 


Whilst  I  was  sitting  around  about  the  guard  house  and 
off  of  post,  there  were  several  little  squads  hunkered  about 
on  rocks  and  stumps,  some  talking  about  one  thing  and 
some  about  another.  I  could  only  hear  a  few  words  at  a 
time,  first  from  one  squad,  then  another.  It  was^  right 
amusing  to  me,  and  may  be  to  you.  It  ran  as  follows: 

Squad  No.  1. — "Yes,  it  was  Old  Abe  that  recommended 
it.  If  he  could  have  had  his  way  he  would  have" 

Squad  No.  2.—"  His  face  greasy  from  ear  to  ear.  He 
can  eat  more  in  one  day  than  I  could  in" 

"Several  years  yet,  but  Idon't  think  it  will  last  longer' 

"Then  my  whiskers.     I  have  not  shaved  since  I  left" 

"Noah's  ark.  Two  and  two  of  every  kind  of  animals. 
Two  lions,  two  elephants,  two  tigers,  and  two" 

"Dumplings!  If  I  could  just  get  them  all  the  time  I 
would  soon  fatten  up  and  look  as  well  as  a" 

"Possom  and  taters  is  just  as  good  as  anything  that  I 

ever .  Stuck  my  head  in  up  to  my  eyes  and  got  nearly 

drowned.  I  tried  to  call  for  " 

"A  chew  of  tobacco,  if  you  please.  I  have  not  had  any 
since  I  left  Stone  Bridge.  When  I  get  some  I  will  give 


"The  d — est  whipping  that  a  set  of  fellows  ever  got  if 
they  just  fall  into  the  hands  of" 

"My  wife  and  children  I  left  with  tears  in  their  eyes, 
and  told  them  not  to  look  " 

"At  that  little  upstart.  Just  gin  a  fool  a  little  office 
and  it  soon  makes" 

"Chickens  and  dumplings  if  I  have  to  pay" 

"Five  hundred  thousand  dollars  and  four  hundred  thou 
sand  more  to  try  to  exterminate" 


South  Carolina,  Volunteers.  31 


"  Every  louse  on  my  head,  since  I  got  that  fine  comb. 
I  did  have  a  good  many  till " 

"Dr.  Cooley  gave  me  some  blue  mass  and  some  other 
stuff  that  made  me  throw  up" 

"My  commission  and  go  home,  where  I  can  get" . 

"The  worst  kind  of  a  bile  right  on  my  hip,  but  when  I 
had  it  lanced  it  run  " 

"For  captain,  but  he  got  so  badly  beat  that  I  don't 
think  he  will  ever" 

"Double  quick  much  for  half  a  mile,  and  then  halted 
right  in  front  of" 

"  Bill  Smith's  leg.    They  cut  it  off  just  above  " 

"  The  top  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  We  had  gone  several  miles, 
when  we  came  to  a  place"  — 

"  That  stinks  worse  than  a  dead  horse.  I  would  almost 
perish  before  I  would  eat" 

"  My  new  hat  and  shoes  that  I  got  at  Richmond  as  we 
camj  along;  they  just  cost  me" 

"My  life  is  in  his  hands,  if  they  do  bring  four  hundred 
thousand  " 

"Green  flies  over  everything.    They  will  just  blew" 

"  The  bugle  for  drill  directly,  and  then  I  hope  that  fellow 
yonder  will  quit  sawing  away  on  that" 

"Old  woman  and  children;  I  do  want  to  see  them  so 
bad  I  would  gave  any  man  " 

"The  measles,  the  worst  kind.  There  is  several  in  my 
mess  broke" 

"  All  to  pieces,  and  its  full  of  whiskey,  so  I  lost  bottle 
and  all.  It  fell  right  on  " 

"Sam  Brown's  nose.  It  was  shot  off  right  where  it 
joins" 

"  Nova  Scotia.  It  now  belongs  to  England.  It  was  dis 
covered  by  " 

"  Long-heeled  Jake,  as  we  called  him ;  his  leg  was  nearly 
in  the  middle  of" 

"  Hell  or  some  other  seaport  town,  and  all  the  rest  with 
him,  and  then  I  would  be  perfectly" 

"Blind.  If  it  was  not  for  that  he  would  be  the  best 
horse  in" 


32  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

"This  canteen  and  tin  cup  just  holds" 

"The  general  impression  here  is  that  we  have" 

"  A  baked  goose  for  dinner,  but  it  was  not  half  done, 
and  I  believe  it  was" 

"Sixty-five  years  old  when  he  came  into  the  service,  but 
he  seems  to  stand  it  well,  considering  that  he  has" 

"A  sucking  babe  not  more  than  fifteen  months  old,  and 
will  soon  be  looking  for  another;  if  that  is  so" 

"I  shall  have  to  gun  my  blankets  to-morrow,  for  we 
don't  know  at  what  moment  we  may  have  to  go  " 

"To  the  devil  with  your  crackers.     I  had  rather  eat" 

"President   Davis   and  General   Beauregard   both   say 
that"- 
"  We  must  cook  that  mutton  for  dinner  or  it  will  spoil  " 

"  Our  uniforms  every  evening  at  dress  parade.  At  any 
other  time  we  can  wear" 

"My  patience  out  talking  so  much.  I  had  as  leave 
hear" 

"That  big  snoring  of  nights.  It  would  keep  any  man 
from" 

"Running  and  jumping  into  the  river  head  foremost, 
and  staying  under  the  water  till  he  was  nearly  out  of" 


"Something  to  eat.    I  have  not  had  a  bite  since" 

"I  was  born,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1829.     That  makes 

me  just" 

"Six  o'clock,  and  I  must  go  on  post  again." 

The  drum  beats  arid  end's  the  conversation. 

CAMP  PETTUS,  VA.,  MONDAY  MORNING,  4  O'CLOCK,  AUGUST 
5rn,  1861. — I  had  so  many  letters  to  write  for  other  people 
yesterday  that  I  did  not  get  to  write  any  for  myself,  but 
I  don't  know  that  it  would  make  any  material  difference, 
as  1  have  nothing  worthy  of  your  attention  to  write 
about  at  present.  I  will  have  to  go  on  guard  again  this 
morning  at  eight  o'clock,  and  remain  till  eight  to-morrow 
morning.  I  have  not  had  a  letter  from  you  in  two  weeks. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  33 

I  believe  there  is  something  wrong  with  the  mail  (not  the 
female).  I  will  try  and  send  this  letter  on  to  Columbia  or 
some  other  point  on  the  railroad  by  hand.  The  war  news 
is  dull  indeed.  We  hear  nothing  at  all  of  another  fight 
soon.  Some  seem  to  think  that  the  enemy  is  pretty  well 
satisfied,  and  others  think  (and  me  for  one)  that  they  are 
making  all  the  preparations  in  their  power  to  carry  on 
the  war.  I  still  feel  gallant  and  want  you  to  try  and  feel 
buoyant.  I  want  to  do  what  fighting  I  have  to  do  and 
get  back  to  Dixie.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


CAMP  PETTUS,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA.,  August  8th,  1861. 
I  have  received  yours  of  the  31st  of  July,  in  which  you 
inform  me  that  you  have  attached  yourself  to  the  Church. 
The  news  is  very  gratifying  to  me  indeed,  and  I  hope  you 
may  live  to  see  me  a  member  also.  I  think  I  have  known 
men  as  bad  as  I  am  to  reform  and  join  the  Church.  In 
fact  the  wicked  ones  are  the  only  ones  that  are  called  on 
to  reform.  It  is  the  sick  that  needs  a  physician.  It  is 
said  in  God's  word  that  everything  worketh  together  for 
good  to  them  that  believe.  I  think  that  I  do  believe, 
although  I  don't  conform  to  what  1  profess  to  believe.  I 
fear  there  are  but  few  that  do.  Tell  Irving  that  I  have  not 
forgotten  him  ;  tell  him  to  be  a  good  boy  and  be  governed 
by  the  advice  that  I  gave  him  just  before  my  departure. 
I  have  nothing  at  all  important  to  write.  I  only  write  at 
this  time  merely  that  you  may  hear  from  me.  We  are 
still  at  Camp  Pettus,  between  Manassas  Junction  and 
Alexandria.  We  will  probably  remain  here,  for  some  time. 
We  cannot  tell.  Yours  affectionately, 

J.  W.  REID. 


NOTE. — My  wife  did  live  to  see  me  a  member  of  the  Church,  and 
there  is  nothing  under  Heaven  that  gives  me  as  much  satisfaction  as 
that.  She  did  live  to  see  me  a  member ;  she  had  prayed  for  it  so  'long  ; 
she  lived  to  see  her  prayer  answered. 


34  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 


CAMP  PETTUS,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA.,  August  llth,  1861. 
I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Dickinson,  in  which 
he  states  that  you  were  all  well.  It  was  made  last  Sun 
day,  the  4th  inst.  I  have  nothing  definite  to  write  about 
the  war.  We  got  orders  yesterday  to  be  ready  at  a  mo 
ment's  warning  to  march.  Our  commissary  is  ordered  to 
keep  on  hand,  at  all  times,  three  days'  rations,  to  carry 
with  us,  if  we  should  have  to  march.  It  is  said  here  to 
day  that  we  will  march  to-morrow,  but  that,  I  think,  is 
uncertain ;  but  I  think  it  is  certain  that  we  will  inarch 
soon,  and  where  we  will  go  to  I  cannot  at  present  say, — 
perhaps  Washington  City.  It  seems  that  some  of  the 
great  European  powers  are  beginning  to  look  upon  this 
war  as  being  of  some  importance.  This  will  be  plain  to 
you  when  I  inform  you  that  Prince  Jerome  Bonaparte  has 
visited  our  country,  and  on  last  Friday  reviewed  our 
army.  We  were  marched  to  Centreville,  which  is  about 
one  and  a  half  miles  from  here,  on  Friday,  the  9th  inst., 
and  was  reviewed  by  him.  But,  by  the  way,  I  thought  it 
the  warmest  day  that  I  ever  had  seen ;  it  was  perfectly 
suffocating.  A  great  many  men  gave  out  and  stopped 
before  we  got  there,  and  a  great  many  broke  ranks  after 
we  got  there.  There  were  two  men  I  know  of  who  fainted. 
I  came  very  near  giving  out  myself.  What  made  things 
worse,  we  had  our  thick  woolen  uniforms  on,  and  our  coats 
buttoned  up.  It  was  almost  suffocating.  It  is  said  here 
that  Bonaparte  also  reviewed  the  Federal  army.  His 
presence  here  is  a  matter  of  speculation  to  both  parties. 
I  have  do  more  war  news.  Dame  Rumor  is  still  tattling. 
I  arn  sorry  to  say  our  ranks  are  being  thinned  by  sick 
ness  and  death.  Before  this  reaches  you  you  will  no  doubt 
hear  of  the  death  of  Claudius  Earle,  who  died  at  Rich 
mond  a  few  days  ago.  I  fought  within  a  few  yards'  of 
him  on  the  21st  of  July.  Our  friend  (Irving's  teacher) 
Jesse  Smith,  is  at  the  point  of  death.  There  are  a  good 
many  others  of  my  acquaintance  sick  at  hospitals,  and  I 
have  but  little  chance  of  hearing  from  them.  My  Captain 
(Dean)  is  sick,  and  gone  to  Culpepper  Court  House.  Col 
onel  Sloan  has  also  gone  off  sick,  and  a  great  many  others. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  85 

I  am  sorry  to  have  to  say  that  a  good  many  are  dying  at 
the  different  hospitals.  1  hope  the  sickness  will  abate  when 
the  weather  gets  cooler,  if  not  before. 

As  it  happens  I  am  again  on  guard  to-day,  writing  on  a 
Yankee  drum  head,  one  that  we  took  at  Stone  Bridge.  I 
this  morning  put  on  my  new  blue  flannel  shirt  that  I  took 
from  Uncle  Sam  on  the  day  after  the  battle.  It  is  a  perfect 
fit ;  made  on  purpose  for  me.  The  reason  that  I  put  it  on 
is  this :  My  other  shirts  are  wet ;  I  had  them  washed  yes 
terday. 

I  will  write  again  as  soon  as  I  can  ;  but  if  we  do  have  to 
move  it  may  be  some  time.  I  forgot  to  state  that  our 
present  Brigadier  General  is  named  Jones. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC,  FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA.,  \ 
Wednesday  Morning,  10  O'clock,  Aug.  14, 1861.  [ 
In  my  last  letter  to  you,  the  llth  inst.,  I  told  you  that 
there  was  a  talk  of  our  moving  soon.  Sure  enough,  on 
Monday,  the  12th,  we  left  Camp  Pettus  and  came  on  to 
this  place,  German  town,  the  same  day,  a  distance  of  six 
or  seven  miles.  We  are  now  some  nearer  Alexandria  and 
Washington  than  we  were  before.  I  think  I  told  you  in  a 
former  letter  that  we  were  but  eight  or  ten  miles  from 
Alexandria.  I  was  wrongly  informed.  It  is  said  to  be 
twelve  or  fifteen  from  here,  and  we  are  several  miles  nearer 
there  now  than  we  were  then.  We  are  one  and  a  half  miles 
from  Fairfax  Court  House,  where  it  is  said  that  General 
Washington's  will  is  recorded  a,nd  where  he  attended 
church.  It  is  eighteen  miles  to  Mount  Vernon,  where  he 
lived  and  where  he  is  buried.  This  little  town  here,  Ger- 
mantown,  is  in  ashes,  the  enemy  having  burnt  it  on  their 
inarch  to  Richmond  ;  but  they  did  not  get  very  far  south 
till  the  weather  got  too  hot  for  them  and  they  had  to 
come  back.  The  climate  at  Stone  Bridge  was  entirely  too 
near  the  Torrid  Zone  for  them.  We  do  not  anticipate  an 
other  big  fight  soon,  as  the  enemy  is  not  yet  ready  to 
again  advance  on  us,  and  I  hardly  think  it  probable  that 


36  History  ot  the  Fourth  Regiment 

« 

we  will  advance  on  them.  I  think  it  too  late  now  for  that. 
We  should  have  done  that  in  July,  if  at  all.  Some  think 
that  we  will  storm  Arlington  Heights  pretty  soon.  I  don't 
pretend  to  know,  but  I  don't  believe  we  will.  This  is  only 
my  opinion.  But  there  is  one  thing  I  do  know,  or  think  I 
know,  and  that  is.  if  we  do  take  Arlington  Heights  it  will 
cost  us  something.  But  as  to  Alexandria  and  Washing 
ton,  I  think  we  could  take  them  easy  enough  if  it  was  riot 
for  their  everlasting  engines  of  destruction  that  are  on 
Arlington  Heights.  I  really  have  nothing  to  write  about. 
I  only  write  that  you  may  hear  from  me,  which  I  know 
you  are  anxious  for  at  any  time;  but  if  any  little  thing 
does  happen  soon  you  shall  hear  from  it,  if  I  am  able  to 
write. 

Since  writing  the  above  I  have  heard  some  twenty  or 
thirty  cannon  reports  down  towards  Alexandria.  I  will 
not  close  this  letter  till  I  find  out  what  it  means.  I  don't 
think  it  is  a  regular  fight.  If  it  was  we  would  be  double- 
quicking  down  there.  There  is  eight  South  Carolina  regi 
ments  all  here  together,  and  if  we  have  to  go  down  there, 

we  will  give  them what  paddy  give  the  drum.     Willis 

Dickinson  has  been  at  Culpepper  hospital  for  some  time.  I 
can't  hear  from  Jesse  Smith.  Sam  Couch  has  the  mumps. 

EVENING,  5  O'CLOCK  —I  have  not  as  yet  heard  from  that 
cannonading.    It  is  still  going  on  at  intervals.    Perhaps 
they  are  only  trying  their  guns  or  trying  to  scare  us, 
which  they  have  everlastingly  failed  to  do. 
I  will  write  more  when  I  know  more. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC,  GEBMANTOWN,  ) 
FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA.,  August  15th,  1861.      f 
Nothing  new  since  I  wrote  last.     The  cannonading  that 
I  spoke  of  turned  out  to  be  nothing.    I  have  just  heard  of 
a  battle  fought  above  here  the  other  day,  at  a  place  called 
Pan  Handle.    I  hear  so  many  different  reports  about  it 
that  I  shall  not  attempt  to  say  much  about  it  at  present- 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  37 

I  do  not  know  how  many  were  engaged  in  it,  or  how 
many  killed  and  wounded,  but  report  says  a  great 
many.  I  think  though,  from  what  I  can  find  out,  that 
our  side  got  the  best  of  it,  as  usual.  I  understand  that 
our  troops  were  commanded  by  General  Wise,  of  Virginia 
(Governor  Wise).  I  also  understand  that  a  battle  has 
been  fought  somewhere  out  towards  Missouri,  the  partic 
ulars  of  which  I  ha.ve  no  positive  information  ;  but  report 
says  our  side  got  the  best  of  it ;  I  can't  say.  They  would 
tell  us  so  here  whether  it  was  so  or  not.  I  hope,  however, 
that  it  is  so.  It  don't  seem  to  me  that  the  war  ought  to 
last  long  now,  as  both  armies  are  pretty  large  now  and 
pretty  close  together,  and  why  not  fight  it  out  and  be 
done  with  it.  That  would  be  the  tactics  of  High  Private 
J.  VV.  Reid.  Each  army  seems  to  be  waiting  for  the  other 
to  make  the  attack.  The  big  officers  on  both  sides  are 
getting  big  pay,  and  I  don't  suppose  that  some  of  them 
are  in  a  big  hurry  to  go  home.  I  mean  no  insinuation, 
but  if  the  shoe  fits  wear  it. 

I  will  pay  the  last  cent  I  have  in  the  world  for  postage 
on  this  letter;  but  when  I  write  again  Providence  will 
provide  for  me.  He  always  will. 

Our  friend,  Jesse  Smith,  is  dead.  I  heard  it  last  night. 
He  has  been  dead  several  days.  Colonel  Sloan,  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Cha.rles  Mattison  and  Major  Whitner  are  all  sick. 
My  own  Captain,  Thomas  Dean,  and  Lieutenant  B.  A.  M. 
McAllister  are  both  sick  at  the  hospital,  and  a  great  many 
more  officers  and  privates  are  sick  at  the  different  hospi 
tals;  and  I  will  here  remark  that  most  of  the  cases  of 
sickness  are  not  considered  very  dangerous.  I  think  that 
the  cases  of  bad  sickness  are  few,  considering  our  number. 
Take  the  same  number  anywhere  else  and  you  will  doubt 
less  find  as  much  sickness.  I  am  still  in  good  health,  and, 
as  you  well  know,  have  the  constitution  of  a  nail  machine. 
I  hope  I  will  still  have  good  health,  but  still  I  may  get 
sick  as  well  as  others;  and  if  so,  I  will  try  to  get  leave  of 
Dr.  Cooley  to  remain  in  camp.  I  think  I  would  fare  better. 

You  say  that  you  have  religion.  Don't  let  it  make  you 
melancholy.  True  religion,  the  kind  that  I  hope  you  have, 


38  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

will  not  do  that.  It  will  be  more  inclined  to  make  you 
cheerful.  Pray  in  faith,  and  your  prayers  will  most  assur 
edly  be  answered.  He  says  they  will,  and  He  cannot  lie. 
If  your  prayers  are  riot  answered  immediately,  don't  think 
that  they  will  never  be.  God  has  His  own  time  to  do  all 
things,  and  at  the  proper  time  He  will  do  it ;  for  He  can 
not  lie,  and  He  says  He  will  answer  any  prayer  prayed 

in  faith. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID 


ARMY  OF  OCCUPATION  OR  INVASION,  GERMANTOWN,  ~\ 

FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA., 

Sunday  Morning,  10  O'clock,  Aug.  18,  1861.  ) 
Last  night,  after  I  laid  down,  Mr.  Phillips  called  me  up 
to  read  a  letter  for  him  that  he  had  got  from  home.  On 
opening  it  I  found  a  few  lines  in  it  that  you  sent  to  me. 
It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  say  how  magnificent  it  made 
rne  feel.  You  say  that  yon  were  to  trade  with  old  Tom 
Appier  for  a  cow.  My  advice  is  to  do  so  if  you  can,  for  the 
cow  would  certainly  be  of  more  service  to  you  than  the 
horse.  You  also  say  that  you  have  a  good  many  water 
melons,  but  that  they  do  you  no  good  because  I  am  not 
there  to  help  eat  them.  Don't  let  that  make  any  differ 
ence,  for  I  have  something  here  that  1  would  like  to  divide 
with  you;  but  as  we  can't  divide  what  we  have,  we  will 
strike  off  even,  and  each  one  partake  of  what  we  have,  and 
eat  it  with  as  much  relish  as  we  can.  I  have  a  good  mess 
of  beans  to-day,  and  can  get  more  any  time  I  want  them 
by  paying  for  them.  I  also  have  apple  pie  very  often. 
Peaches  are  not  ripe  here  yet.  I  also  get  plenty  of  roast 
ing  ears.  I  have  eaten  beef  till,  if  you  were  to  see  me,  you 
would  take  me  for  a  Virginia  bull.  In  this  letter  I  send 
you  two  kind  of  tomato  seed  ;  one  kind  is  as  large  as  my 
fist;  the  other  kind  is  small,  and  has  a  neck  like  daddie's 
powder  gourd.  I  suppose  that  you  think  I  write  mighty 
often ;  so  I  do ;  but  I  also  suppose  that  I  don't  write  any 
oftener  than  you  want  to  hear  from  me,  and  especially  at 


South  Carolina  Volunteers. 


a  time  when  there  is  so  much  sickness  amongst  us.  The 
most  fatal  complaint  among  us  now  is  measles,  and 
as  you  already  know  I  have  had  them.  I  have  had 
the  measles,  the  mumps,  the  whooping  cough,  the  itch,  the 
scald  head,  the  hives,  the  thrash,  and  all  those  little  fancy 
complaints;  so  I  don't  know  that  I  need  fear  from  any 
thing  now  but  thunder,  Yankee  missiles  and  typhoid  fever 
and  hypocondria.  My  mess  are  all  sick,  more  or  less; 
the  most  of  them  less.  Jim  Loftin  and  myself  are  the  only 
ones  of  my  mess  that  are  complaining  of  being  well.  I 
have  no  war  news.  Everything  is  as  dry  as  a  bone,  and  it 
is  painfully  hot.  I  have  no  doubt  but  you  read  a  great 
many  exciting  things  in  the  paper ;  but  let  me  assure  you 
that  all  that  is  in  the  papers  are  not  Gospel  truths.  I  told 
you  in  my  last  letter  that  I  was  out  of  money,  but  that 
the  Lord  would  provide,  and  so  He  did.  He  and  Jeff  Davis 
and  company  on  yesterday  drew  five  dollars  in  Virginia 
shinplasters  that  are  not  worth  a  fig  outside  of  Virginia, 
but  they  will  pay  postage  anyhow.  I  will  write  again 
soon.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  KEID. 

NOTE. — The  tomato  seed  I  mentioned  got  home  safe,  and  some  of 
their  descendants  are  in  the  neighborhood  yet,  1890.  The  letters  that 
I  am  now  drawing  off  ar  not  so  important  as  afterwards  when  the  times 
became  more  exciting,  but  as  I  have  them  before  me  I  will  draw  them 
off,  so  as  to  give  a  full  account  of  our  travels. 


I  wrote  another  letter  from  Germ  an  town,  August  21st, 
but  in  it  I  wrote  nothing  of  importance.  I  only  give  the 
names  of  those  that  were  sick,  and  some  other  little  mat 
ters  not  worth  repeating.  I  wrote  again  on  the  27th  of 
August  as  follows : 

On  Friday  evening  last  we  received  information  that  a 
fight  was  going  on  at  Fall's  Church,  a  few  miles  below 
here;  so  we  bundled  up,  leaving  our  tents  under  a  guard, 
and  ponied  off  for  the  scene  of  action,  or  rather  the  scene 
of  inaction,  for  we  only  got  about  three  miles,  when  we 
got  orders  to  turn  back.  We  instantly  obeyed  the  order, 


40  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

with  a  little  more  promptness  than  we  had  done  when  we 
started  from  camp.  It  was  all  a  humbug.  I  think  it  was 
done  to  see  how  many  of  us  there  were  that  were  able  to 
travel.  There  were  a  great  many  that  were  not  able,  and 
then  there  were  several  taken  very  suddenly  ill.  About 
the  time  we  got  the  orders  to  march,  I  tell  you  confidently 
that  an  order  to  march  right  to  where  a  battle  is  going 
on  is  one  of  the  most  sickening  things  on  earth.  I  have 
seen  men,  apparently  in  good  health,  get  sick  enough  to 
throw  up  in  a  few  minutes  after  an  order  to  march.  In 
fact  I  have  known  some  officers  that  did  throw  up  their 
commissions  and  go  home,  it  made  them  so  sick.  Such 
news  has  never  made  me  so  very  sick  yet,  but  sometimes 
it  makes  me  feel  a  little  weak  and  puny-like. 

On  Sunday  night  we  were  again  started,  we  knew  not 
where,  but  we  only  got  to  Fairfax  Court  House,  about 
one  mile  and  a  half  from  here,  and  again  we  were  ordered 
back.  We  promptly  obeyed  again.  More  sickness  on  the 
occasion.  On  yesterday  morning  we  were  ordered  to  strike 
tents  and  be  ready  to  move  at  a  moment's  warning  (quite 
sickly),  but  in  the  evening  we  were  ordered  to  put  up  our 
tents  again.  (Sickness  abating  considerably).  I  can't 
say  how  long  we  will  remain  here,  but  if  we  start  again  I 
want  to  keep  on.  I  am  tired  trotting  backwards  and  for 
wards.  I  don't  think  that  we  will  attack  the  enemy  where 
they  are  now ;  neither  do  we  believe  that  they  will  venture 
to  travel  the  same  road  that  they  did  in  July.  It  was  too 
hot  for  them  at  that  time,  and  I  think  it  would  be  so 
again.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  our  regiment  is  in  a  rather 
bad  condition  for  fighting  or  marching  at  present.  Of  my 
mess  of  nine  men  all  are  sick  but  Jim  Loftin  and  myself. 
Last  Saturday  I  went  four  miles  to  our  hospital  to  see  the 
sick.  1  found  one  hundred  and  sixty  of  our  regiment  there. 
There  are  a  great  many  of  our  regiment  at  other  hospitals. 
Ten  men  were  dying  when  I  got  there,  one  belonging  to  my 
own  company,  named  AVilliam  Bagwell,  and  another  be 
longing  to  Griffin's  company,  named  Hunt.  They  both 
died  that  day,  TWTO  of  my  company  died  at  Culpepper 
last  week,  Thomas  Bagwell  and  Marion  Murray,  all  from 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  41 


the  effects  of  measles.  Every  case  of  pneumonia  or  fever 
that  I  have  heard  of  originated  from  measles.  Every  one 
that  has  took  pneumonia  or  fever  took  it  after  going  to 
the  hospital.  Judd  Me  Lees  took  the  measles  here,  and  I  got 
Dr.  Cooley  to  let  him  remain  in  camp  with  me.  I  have 
now  got  him  up  and  about  again.  If  I  get  sick  I  will 
remain  in  camp  if  possible. 

There  are  not  as  many  deaths  at  Culpepper  now  as  there 
were  a  week  or  two  ago.  It  is  getting  some  colder  now, 
and  I  hope  times  will  soon  be  better.  It  is  a  very  dark 
time  now. 

EIVE  O'CLOCK,  EVENING. — Great  preparations  are  going 
on  for  some  purpose  I  know  not  what,  but  I  positively  do 
hope  that  is  for  another  fight,  for  I  am  anxious  to  do  what 
fighting  I  have  got  to  do  and  be  done  with  it.  To  tell  the 
truth  I  am  getting  tired  of  this  way  of  living.  I  will  now 
close  for  the  present. 

Yours  affectionately, 

J.  W.  REID. 


ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC,  GERANTOWN,  ) 
FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA.,  September  1,  1861.  J 
I  have  no  news.  Everything  is  quiet  for  the  present. 
The  two  armies  are  close  together,  arid  could  go  to  fight 
ing  at  any  time;  but  it  seems  that  each  party  dreads  to 
attack  the  other  party,  and  well  they  may ;  for  let  the  at 
tack  be  made  by  whom  it  may,  somebody  will  get  hurt, 
for  I  have  found  out  long  ago  that  the  other  party  is 
about  as  good  fighting  stock  as  we  are.  We  are  all  chips 
of  the  old  block.  We  never 'know  when  we  will  fight  till 
we  go  at  it.  Colonel  Sloan  and  three  or  four  others  have 
got  back  to  camp,  but  Lieutenant  Colonel  Mattison  has 
been  sent  off  sick ;  so  that  I  can't  see  that  there  is  much 
improvement  in  the  health  of  our  regiment  as  yet.  James 
and  Willis  DickiNson  are  both  sick.  Phillips,  the  two  Earles, 
Stacks,  Herron,  Couch,  Loftin  and  Jefferson,  all  of  my 
company  but  the  two  Earles,  are  well.  Tell  Mr.  Dickinson 


42  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 


to  address  his  letters  to  me  for  the  present,  and  I  will  send 
them  to  the  boys.  I  will  keep  myself  informed  of  how  the 
boys  are  coming  on,  and  let  him  know  in  my  letters  to 
you  about  them. 

We  have  had  two  more  deaths  at  our  country  hospital 
this  week.  They  were  men  you  are  not  acquainted  with. 
The  good  "Lord  has  carried  me  safe  thus  far,  for  some  pur 
pose  unknown  to  me  at  present;  and  I  hope  He  will  carry 
me  safely  through  all  the  changes  that  daily  surround  me. 
Bad  as  1  am,  and  bad  as  I  may  appear  to  others,  still  I 
have  implicit  confidence  in  Providence.  There  is  unfortu 
nately  a  great  many  here  who  cannot  write,  and  they  keep 
me  almost  all  my  time,  when  off  of  duty,  writing  letters 
for  them.  I  cannot  deny  them.  Only  a  day  or  two  ago  I 
had  written  letters  till  I  was  tired  out,  when  Lige  Herring 
came  to  me,  with  paper  and  ink  in  hand,  requesting  me  to 
write  a  letter  for  him.  I  refused.  He  walked  off  a  few 
steps  and  looked  up  and  down  the  street,  undecided  what 
to  do.  He  looked  to  me  like  his  heart  would  break.  I 
called  him  back  and  wrote  his  letter,  reflecting  how  it 
would  be  if  I  could  not  write  to  you.  "As  ye  would  have 
others  do  unto  you,  do  ye  so  even  unto  them,"  came  into 
rny  mind  at  the  time,  and  1  am  not  ashamed  to  say  that 
I  acted  accordingly. 

I  would  be  glad  if  you  would  send  me  by  mail  my  gloves 
and  a  good  big  needle,  as  I  have  to  do  my  own  patching 
and  ironing.  The  ironing,  however,  goes  minus. 

The  bell  is  now  ringing  for  preaching.  I  will  go  and 
hear  the  sermon  and  then  write. 

FOUR  O'CLOCK  P.  M.— I  went  and  heard  our  Chaplain 
preach,  Rev.  Mr.  Guinn,  of  Greenville.  He  preached  a 
very  touching  sermon ;  it  brought  tears  to  my  eyes,  if  I 
am  a  soldier.  It  makes  me  feel  quite  serious  to  hear  so 
many  voices  singing  and  not  a  female  voice  among  them. 
Will  I  ever  hear  that  sweet  music  again  ?  I  hope  so. 

I  have  just  been  handed  a  letter  from  the  hospital.  Our 
sick  ones  are  no  better.  I  got  a  letter  yesterday  from  our 
esteemed  brother-in-law,  John  A.  Cargill.  Your  mother 
and  family  are  all  well.  John  speaks  of  coming  out  here 
to  me  soon.  I  will  now  stop  a  while. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  43 

MONDAY  MORNING,  SEPTEMBER  2D.— Nothing  new.    Cold 
enough  for  frost.     Please  don't  forget  gloves  and  needle. 

Yours  affectionately, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. The  reader  must  understand  that  I  do  not  commence  and 

end  those  letters  as  I  did  at  the  time,  as  I  sometimes  used  some  very 
sympathetic  language  to  my  wife  in  beginning  and  closing  my  letters, 
and  I  will  not  repeat  it  here  in  drawing  them  off,  as  I  don't  wish  to  set 
you  all  crying.  Everything  else  is  just  precisely  as  I  wrote  it  at  the 
time,  un grammatical  as  it  was  and  is  yet. 


ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC,  GERMANTOWN,  VA.,| 
September  4th,  1861.     J 

A  HISTORY  OF  POCKET  KNIVES. 

I  have  two  pocket  knives— one  a  white  pearl  handle,  the 
other  a  black  handle.  I  aim  the  white  handle  for  you,  the 
other  for  Irving.  The  white-handled  one  I  found  while  at 
Leesburg,  and  could  find  no  owner;  the  black-handled  one 
I  got  as  follows:  I  was  walking  over  what  I  could  of  the 
battlefield,  late  in  the  evening,  after  the  battle,  and  came 
across  a  Federal  soldier  shot  through  the  bowels.  The 
knife  was  laying  close  to  him.  I  picked  it  up  and  offered 
it  to  him.  His  reply  was,  fc'Keep  it,  friend  ;  I  shall  need  it 
no  more;  I  am  mortally  wounded  arid  cannot  live  to  see 
another  sunrise."  I  gave  him  a  drink  of  water  from  my 
canteen,  which  T  had  just  filled,  and  told  him  that  I  had 
some  of  my  friends  to  see  after  that  evening.  He  then 
gave  me  a  package  of  letters,  requesting  me  to  destroy 
them.  I  promised  to  do  so  and  did  so.  He  said  that  I 
had  given  him  his  last  drink  of  water.  Next  morning  1 
found  him  dead,  with  another  letter  lying  on  his  breast. 
I  opened  and  read  it,  and  from  the  tone  of  it  supposed  it 
to  be  from  his  wife;  it  was  at  least  some  female,  who  ad 
vised  him  to  meet  her  in  Heaven,  if  they  never  met  ou 
earth  again.  They  never  met.  I  hope  they  may  meet  in 
Heaven.  He  told  me  that  he  was  a  regular  from  the  State 
of  Maine,  but  I  cannot  recollect  his  name.  Could  it  be  pos 
sible  that  my  bullet  hit  him.  I  hope  not,  but  I  fought 


44  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

right  in  front  of  where  he  was.  I  left  him  for  other  scenes 
equally  distressing-,  and  destroyed  his  last  and,  I  suppose, 
most  cherished  letter.  This  is  some  of  the  history  of  our 
cruel  war.  When  will  it  ever  end?  Our  advanced  pickets 
are  within  five  miles  of  Washington  City,  and  are  skir 
mishing  every  day  with  the  pickets  of  the  enemy.  There 
is  no  telling  what  it  may  lead  to.  I  at  this  moment  hear 
cannor:  firing  in  that  direction.  O,  dear  me,  I  have  a  kind 
of  dull  headache.  If  I  have  to  close  this  letter  abruptly 
vou  rnav  know  where  I  am. 


EVENING,  5  O'CLOCK.— I  have  news  from  that  firing.  It 
was  some  of  our  men  trying  to  drive  a  portion  of  the 
enemy  from  a  position  that  they  were  occupying  between 
here  and  Washington.  They  succeeded  in  doing  so.  I 
have  not  heard  what  the  loss  was  on  either  side. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — The  knives  that  I  spoke  of  I  did  send  home.  My  wife  kept 
hers  for  a  great  many  years.  My  boy  dropped  his  in  the  ocean,  near 
Charleston,  in  1863,  and  that  was  the  end  of  the  knife  that  I  got  from  a 
dying  Federal  soldier. 


ARMY  OF  OCCUPATION  OR  INVASION,  } 

GERMANTOWN,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA.,  Sept.  11,  1861.  j 
I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  W.  P.  Brown,  in  which 
he  informs  me  that  you  are  well  and  doing  well.  I  also 
got  a  letter  from  Silas  Crow.  He  informs  me  that  he  saw 
you  on  the  31st  of  August.  He  also  says  that  you  are 
well.  Everything  about  us  is  as  it  was  when  I  wrote  last, 
all  quiet;  but  it  cannot  remain  so  always,  and  the  sooner 
it  changes  the  better;  for  if  I  remain  in  this  place  inactive 
much  longer,  I  will  turn  to  a  high  land  terrapin  or  an 
oyster.  My  idea  is  that  the  sooner  we  fight  the  better. 
There  is  bigger  and  perhaps  lousier  heads  here  than  mine, 
but  still  I  have  head  enough  to  form  my  own  conclusions 
and  my  own  ideas  about  things.  I  am  glad  cool  weather 
is  coming.  The  first  thing  we  all  know  Christmas  will  be 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  45 

here,  and  then  it  will  not  be  very  long  till  the  glorious 
14th  of  April  will  be  here. 

As  to  my  own  part  I  am  ready,  willing  and  wanting  to 
take  another  crack  or  two  at  the  Yankee  Doodles  and  let 
them  take  a  crack  at  rne. 

Just  as  I  wrote  the  above  we  were  called  out  to  drill, 
and  here  is  a  list  of  those  of  my  company  present:  Peter 
Brown,  John  Manning  and  J.  W.  Reid.  Sergeant  G.  W. 
Belcher  was  our  officer  in  command.  Such  as  this  is  a 
little  disheartening,  even  to  a  soldier,  but  I  am  well  aware 
that  the  greater  portion  of  the  men  are  not  dangerously 
sick.  Quite  the  reverse.  But  those  on  guard  yesterday 
and  the  guard  of  to-day  were  excusable,  according  to  army 
regulations,  from  drilling;  so  that  there  were  about  ten 
in  all  that  were  able  and  willing  to  drill  or  do  duty  of  any 
kind.  I  will  be  on  guard  to-morrow. 

If  you  don't  mind  I  will  be  as  good  a  cook  when  I  come 
home  as  you  are.  I  am  chief  cook  and  bottle  washer  here 
now.  I  now  have  some  pig,  or  mule — I  don't  know  which— 
on  cooking  for  dinner.  I  am  going  to  stew  it  down,  so 
that  lean  have  some  sop — vulgarly  called  gr^vy.  I 
always  want  to  use  the  best  language  that  I  can,  and 
therefore  I  call  it  by  its  true  grammatical  name,  sop. 

THURSDAY  MORNING,  8  O'CLOCK,  SEPTEMBER  12TH. — Last 
night  we  got  orders  to  cook  up  two  days'  rations  and  be 
ready  to  move  at  a  moment's  warning.  We  cooked  till  10 
o'clock  last  night,  but  are  not  gone  yet,  and  may  not  go 
at  all.  If  we  do  go  I  don't  know  which  way  we  will  go  ; 
neither  do  I  care  much.  I  send  these  lines  in  a  letter, 
backed  to  W.  P.  Brown.  He  will  hand  it  to  you.  I  will 
write  again  as  soon  as  I  can  find  something  to  write 
about.  Yours  forever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC,  GERMANTOWN,  VA.,| 
September  16th,  1861.     J 

We  did  riot  go  as  anticipated,  but  are  still  here.    Our 
advanced  pickets  and  the  advanced  pickets  of  the  enemy 


46  History  ofth?  Fourth  Regiment 

are  in  sight  of  each  other  and  firing'  on  each  other  almost 
continually,  but  no  great  damage  has  been  done  as  yet, 
unless  it  has  been  done  this  morning. 

LATER. — We  have  this  moment  received  orders  again  to 
cook  up  three  days'  rations,  and  be  ready  to  march,  but 
I  have  been  fooled  so  often  that  I  shall  not  believe  we  are 
going  till  we  get  half  way  to  Washington  or  Alexandria. 
It  is  the  general  opinion — whether  it  is  the  opinion  of  the 
General  or  not — that  another  big  battle  will  come  off 
soon.  Well,  let  it  come.  Of  one  thing  I  am  pretty  cer 
tain,  and  that  is,  that  if  it  don't  come  pretty  soon  it  will 
not  come  at  all  before  next  Spring.  I  do  wish  it  would 
come,  for  I  am  perfectly  sick  and  tired  of  hearing  it  talked 
of  so  much  and  nothing  done.  The  weather  will  be  too 
cold  here  this  Winter  for  active  operations.  Of  this  I  am 
certain.  There  is  no  telling  what  may  occur  before  this 
reaches  you.  As  before  stated,  we  have  an  advanced 
guard  all  the  time.  Several  regiments  go  off  at  a  time 
and  remain  several  days,  and  then  are  relieved  by  other 
regiments.  Perhaps  it  is  our  time  to  go  now.  I  will  now 
stop  and  try  to  find  out  what  is  up. 

EVENING,  4  O'CLOCK. — We  have  finished  cooking  rations 
and  are  waiting  for  further  orders.  I  can  hear  nothing 
definite  from  that  heavy  firing  this  morning.  It  must 
have  been  of  some  importance,  as  the  firing  continued  for 
several  hours.  I  think  we  are  all  right  now,  though  at  a 
critical  point  in  our  history.  The  time  is  near  at  hand 
when  we  must  stand  or  fall  as  a  nation.  Right  here  now 
are  two  of  the  largest  and  best  disciplined  armies  that  have 
ever  been  raised  in  modern  times,  and  composed  of  men 
on  both  sides  that  will  fight  to  the  death.  General  Beau- 
regard  has  moved  his  headquarters  (and  hind  quarters 
too)  to  Fairfax  Court  House,  one  mile  and  a  half  below 
here.  We  have  a  pretty  large  army  in  this  vicinity  at 
this  time,  from  all  parts  of  Dixie, — Kentucky  and  Mary 
land  not  excepted.  Had  a  dream  last  night  that  I  started 
for  home,  and  when  near  there  came  across  Irving  and 
che  dog,  about  to  catch  a  'possum.  It  was  just  night,  and 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  47 

Irving1  kissed  me  a  thousand  times.  Pie  had  grown  so 
much  that  1  scarcely  knew  him.  When  I  got  to  the  house 
all  my  sisters  were  there,  and  they  all  kissed  me,  but  I 
thought  you  would  hardly  speak  to  me.  It  came  so  near 
breaking  my  heart  that  I  awoke,  and  here  I  was  lying  on 
the  ground,  on  the  Potomac  River,  nearly  a  thousand 
miles  from  home.  What  a  lie  to  dream  !  I  know  that  you 
would  be  the  first  among  ten  thousand  to  welcome  me 
home.  Will  stop  till  I  hear  more  news. 

SEPTEMBER  I?TH. — That  firing  yesterday  was  some  of 
our  men  firing  on  some  vessels  in  the  Potomac  River. 
Not  much  damage  was  done.  It  is  ascertained  that  we 
will  go  on  picket  somewhere  between  here  and  Washing 
ton.  I  may  not  write  any  more  till  we  get  back,  but  will 
if  I  can.  Will  inform  you  of  passing  events  wrhenever  I 
can.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE — Although  what  I  am  writing  at  this  time  may  not  interest  the 
reader,  still  it  is  a  time  that  will  always  be  remembered  by  those  who 
were  present  as  one  of  the  darkest  times  to  us  that  we  had  during 
the  war ;  more  than  a  thousand  miles  from  home,  over  half  our  men 
sick,  and  looking  for  an  attack  every  day.  Dark  !  Dark !  Dark  ! 


FALL'S  CHURCH,  VA.,  September  20th,  1861. 
In  my  last  I  informed  you  that  we  were  expecting  to 
leave  camp  soon.  Accordingly,  on  Tuesday,  at  3  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  we  started  for  this  place.  We  had  but  just 
started,  when  it  commenced  a  very  hard  rain,  and  rained 
on  for  two  or  three  hours.  We  made  no  stop  till  we  got 
here,  which  was  about  9  o'clock  at  night.  We  lay  on  the 
wet  ground,  in  our  night  clothes,  all  night.  I  slept  but 
very  little.  On  Wednesday  morning  I  wrote  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Dickinson  about  his  boys,  and  requested  him  to  read 
it  to  you.  Presume  he  did  so.  On  the  same  day  (Wed 
nesday)  we  took  possession  of  a  church,  which  we  still 
occupy,  and  suppose  will  remain  in  till  we  go  back  to 
camp.  We  are  very  comfortably  situated  here,  and  I  do 


48  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment, 


not  think  that  there  is  one  among  us  but  what  would 
rather  remain  here  than  go  back  to  camp  art  German- 
town.  There  are  several  regiments  here,  and  they  take  it 
by  turns  going  out  on  vidette  or  picket  post.  My  regi 
ment  went  yesterday,  and  has  just  returned.  I  did  not 
get  to  go,  as  it  was  known  that  I  was  (free)  stone  mason, 
and  was  detailed  to  build  a  big  bake  oven,  ten  feet  wide  and 
twelve  feet  long,  intended  to  bake  bread  for  the  whole 
congregation.  Almost  every  day  there  are  some  com- 
iug  and  some  leaving  here.  I  suppose  we  will  return 
in  a  few  days.  This  morning  I  went  out  to  the  furthest 
point  occupied  by  our  troops  to  a  place  called  Monson's 
Hill,  and  there  I  could  easily  see  all  creation.  I  could  see 
Washington  City  and  Alexandria  ;  at  the  latter  could  see  a 
a  United  States  flag  as  high  as  Trinity  monument;  also 
partially  see  Arlington  Heights.  I  will  go  back  there  if  I 
can.  Could  see  the  enemy's  position  better  perhaps  than 
they  could  see  ours  from  their  ba.lloon.  The  Potomac 
River  is  literally  covered  with  vessels,  the  masts  of  some 
of  them  extending  up  considerably  nearer  Heaven  I  fear 
than  the  occupants  of  the  vessels  will  ever  be.  While  I 
was  there  I  saw  a  balloon  go  up  three  times  at  Washing 
ton  City.  Suppose  it  went  up  to  see  what  (I)  we  were 
doing.  Could  see  their  line  of  tents  for  miles  up  and  down 
the  river.  It  was  really  a  beautiful  sight. 

We  are  now  in  as  pretty  a  town  as  we  have  ever  seen. 
The  inhabitants  a.re  all  gone,  being  friendly  to  the  Union; 
so  we  have  full  control  here  at  present.  I  am  now  sitting 
on  the  big  church,  writing  on  a  bench.  We  are  but  a  few- 
yards  from  the  celebrated  Falls  Church,  from  which  the 
town  takes  its  name.  This  Falls  Church  was  built  long 
before  the  War  of  Independence,  and  is  built  of  brick 
brought  from  England;  so  stated.  Here  is  where  WTash- 
ington  used  to  come  to  church,  and  some  say  his  member 
ship  was  here;  others  say  it  was  at  Fail-fax  Court  House. 
This  place  reminds  me  a  little  of  old  Pickensville,  only  it 
is  a  much  larger  place.  Would  like  to  live  here  very  well. 
Will  now  stop  till  to-morrow. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  49 

SATURDAY  EVENING,  5  O'CLOCK,  SEPTEMBER  21  ST. — This 
morning,  having  nothing  to  do,  I  went  off  about  one  mile 
from  town,  into  the  woods,  to  patch  up  my  breeches,  re 
maining  awhile  in  my  shirt  tail.  During  the  operation 
if  a  dog  had  seen  me  and  not  have  laughed,  he  would  un 
doubtedly  have  switched  his  tail  or  boo-hooed  and  run 
backwards,  with  his  tail  touching  his  chin.  I  had  left  all 
my  clothes  at  camp,  only  what  I  had  on,  and  they  had 
got  torn  pretty  bad  right — right  where  Mamma  used  to 
slap  me.  While  I  was  tailoring  away  at  my  pants,  a  gun 
was  fired,  a  few  yards  off. 

I  took  long  stitches,  jerked  on  my  breeches,  jumped  over 
ditches,  went  through  the  switches,  and  formed  a  line  of 
march  and  made  for  camp.  You  may  inquire  what  kind 
of  a  line  I  formed.  Answer:  A  bee  line. 

There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  firing  along  our  picket 
line  to-day.  We  had  one  man  killed,  a  Virginian,  and  two 
of  the  enemy  killed. 

It  is  nearly  dark  now  and  raining.    I  must  stop. 

SUNDAY  EVENING,  2  O'CLOCK.— I  have  just  returned  from 
preaching.  One  Episcopalian  preached  a  sermon  in  Falls 
Church — a  very  good  sermon.  We  are  now  ordered  back 
to  camp. 

GERMANTOWN,  VA.,  EARLY  MONDAY  MORNING,  SEPTEM 
BER  23D.— We  left  Falls  Church  about  one  hour,  by  the 
sun,  yesterday  evening,  and  got  here  about  2  o'clock  this 
morning,  tired  out. 

Thomas  Burroughs  is  dead.  He  died  last  Wednesday. 
That  makes  eight  of  my  company  that  I  know  of  who 
have  died.  There  may  be  others. 

It  is  said  that  we  will  go  back  to  Falls  Church  in  about 
fifteen  days.  Hope  we  may,  for  I  like  the  place  better 
than  any  place  I  have  seen  in  Virginia.  Must  now  close. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


50  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 


ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC,  GERMANTOWN, 
FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA.,  September  29th,  1861.  j 

Just  after  closing  my  last  letter  to  you  I  found  that  I 
could  get  a  wagon  to  go  after  some  clothing  that  t  had 
sent  to  Gainesville  just  after  the  battle.  We  had  all  sent 
clothing  there.  So  I  started,  but  was  sorry  for  it;  for 
riding  in  a  wagon  on  a  road  paved  with  nigger  head  rocks 
is  enough  to  jolt  the  ambition  out  of  any  soldier;  it  came 
very  near  jolting  the  ambition  out  of  me.  Gainesville  is 
about  fifteen  miles  distant  from  here,  and  we  were  gone 
two  days — John  Manning,  myself  and  the  driver.  We 
camped  as  we  came  back  at  the  old  Stone  Bridge  battle 
field.  Next  morning  I  and  Manning  walked  over  part  of 
the  battlefield  which  we  had  fought.  It  was  an  awful  sight. 
What  dirt  had  been  thrown  on  many  of  them  had  washed 
off,  and  their  bones  were  only  held  together  by  their  cloth 
ing.  There  were  hundreds  in  that  condition.  Tt  was  truly 
a  ghastly  sight  to  look  upon.  I  never  wish  to  see  another 
such  a  sight;  and,  to  make  the  matter  more  revolting,  it 
was  raining  a  little,  and  the  dampness  made  the  stench 
almost  unendurable.  We  left  the  field  of  skulls  early,  and 
we  got  back  to  camp  that  evening,  feeling  very  sad.  We 
had  succeeded  in  getting  all  our  clothing.  Irving,  'pos 
sum  time  is  coining;  catch  all  you  can,  and  tell  Bear  to 
be  a  good  dog  and  not  bite  any  person  but  Yankees  and 
free  niggers.  He  can  tell  a  free  nigger  by  his  walk  and  a 
Yankee  bj  his  talk. 

A  letter  is  handed  me.  Let  me  read  it.  The  letter  is 
from  W.  B.  Brown.  He  informs  me  that  you  are  well. 

In  speaking  of  the  old  bai  tlefield  I  forgot  to  say  that 
the  trees  about  there  are  literally  torn  to  pieces. 
Among  the  rest  there  is  a  walnut  tree,  about  a  foot 
through,  that  is  torn  in  splinters.  I  send  you  a  small 
splinter  of  it  in  this  letter  and  some  cedar  leaves  off  a  tree 
that  I  was  under  when  a  cannon  ball  tore  it  all  to  pieces, 
throwing  brush  and  leaves  all  over  me. 

You  say  that  it  made  you  feel  bad  because  a,  cannon 
ball  went  so  close  to  me.  I  think  you  had  better  be  glad 
that  it  went  no  nearer  to  me.  There  were  hundreds  of 


South  Carolina,  Volunteers.  51 

men  that  were  hit  by  balls  of  one  sort  or  another.  A  miss 
is  as  good  as  a  mile.  Tell  Mrs.  Land  to  be  sure  and  let  me 
know  whether  she  is  dead  or  not,  as  I  can  hear  nothing 
from  her;  and  if  she  is  dead,  to  let  me  know  how  long  she 
has  been  dead,  and  what  it  was  that  killed  her,  and  all 
that  she  thinks  I  would  like  to  know  about  it.  There  are 
a  good  many  getting  furloughs  to  go  home,  but  I  don't 
want  one.  When  I  come  home  t  want  to  remain  there. 

Do  the  best  you  can,  and  I  will  do  what  they  tell  me 
to  do  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — When  I  wrote  the  above  letter  I  was  quite  unwell,  but  re 
mained  in  camp.  If  I  had  went  to  the  hospital,  as  they  wanted  me  to, 
I  might  have  died. 

ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC,  ) 

G.ERMANTOWN,  YA.,  October  6th,  1861.  } 
We  were  reviewed  the  other  day  by  Generals  Beauregard 
and  Johnson.  It  was  a  big  day  with  us.  Tell  Mr.  E.  J. 
Earle  that  I  will  edit  a  paper  for  him  when  I  come  home, 
and  call  it  the  Evergreen  Trumpet,  and  Avill  trumpet  every 
thing  that  he  knows  and  everything  that  I  know,  and  a 
great  sight  more  things  than  we  both  know,  from  the 
rivers  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  from  Dan  even  unto 
Beersheba.  Everything  is  high  here  now  and  getting 
higher  continually.  Chickens,  from  the  size  of  a  torn  tit 
up  to  the  size  of  a  robin  red-breast,  thirty  cents;  butter, 
some  of  it  old  enough  to  speak  for  itself,  thirty  cents  per 
pound ;  eggs  the  same,  and  everything  else  in  double 
proportion.  I  gave  sixty  cents  for  a  plug  of  tobacco  yes 
terday  that  I  could  have  gotten  for  ten  cents  at  home  when 
I  left  there.  I  will  now  close  this  letter. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — E.  J.  Earle  had  written  to  me  for  mischief  that  he  wanted  me 
to  come  home  and  edit  a  paper.  He  was  aware  that  I  was  waiting  a 
great  many  letters  for  the  boys  (he  lives  at  Evergreen).  In  the  above 
letter  I  wrote  a  good  deal  about  our  condition  as  to  health  at  the  time 
that  I  don't  here  repeat.  We  had  a  great  deal  of  sickness  at  this  time 
and  a  good  many  deaths.  My  letters  will  be  more  interesting  to  the 
reader  when  I  come  to  the  Spring  and  Summer  of  '62. 


52  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC,  GERMANTOWN,  VA.,  ) 
Thursday,  October  10th,  1861.     J 

I  have  got  entirely  well,  and  as  cool  weather  has  come 
I  hope  the  health  of  our  army  will  be  better.  No  news  of 
importance.  All  quiet. 

Our  regiment  is  again  on  picket  guard.  I  will  now  try 
to  explain  to  you  how  our  different  guards  are  arranged 
so  that  you  can  understand  it.  In  the  first  place  we  have 
what  we  call  a  regimental  gua.rd  (every  regiment  has  one). 
So  many  men  are  detailed  every  morning  from  each  com 
pany,  and  are  posted  around  the  regiment  to  watch  for 
the  enemy  and  to  see  that  everything  is  going  on  right. 
This  guard  is  divded  into  three  reliefs,  one  relief  on  post 
at  a  time,  being  relieved  every  two  hours,  so  that  each 
relief  is  on  post  just  one-third  of  the  time.  We  also  have 
what  we  call  a  brigade  guard.  Men  are  detailed  from  the 
regiments  constituting  a  brigade,  and  a,  portion  of  them 
are  placed  on  all  the  roads  and  highways  leading  toward 
our  camps,  divided  into  reliefs,  as  the  regimental  guard. 
This  constitutes  a  brigade  guard.  A  picket  guard  is  when 
one,  two,  three  or  more  regiments  are  sent  as  near  the 
enemy's  lines  as  practicable  to  watch  the  movements  of 
the  enemy.  They  are  also  divided  into  reliefs  like  the 
other  guards;  and  when  any  one  is  on  post  he  is  called  a 
vidette,  or  is  on  vidette  guard .  So  hereafter  if  I  inform  you 
of  our  pickets,  or  those  of  the  enemy,  being  driven  in,  you 
may  know  what  I  mean,  and  that  is,  that  the  other  party 
has  commenced  an  advance  and  that  hard  times  are 
coming. 

The  reason  that  I  am  not  on  picket  with  my  regiment  is 
that  I  was  on  brigade  guard  when  the  regiment  went  off. 
The  regimental  guard  has  to  go  with  the  regiment,  but 
the  brigade  guard  does  not.  That  is  why  I  am  now  here. 
So  much  for  the  guard.  I  should  have  stated  above  that 
there  is  never  more  than  one  regiment  taken  from  a  bri 
gade  at  a  time.  There  are  four  regiments  to  a  brigade ; 
so  myself  and  one  more  of  my  company,  named  Hadley 
Elrod,  is  all  that  is  left  here  of  my  company.  I  am  now 
off  of  brigade  guard  and  am  commander-in-chief  of  my 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  53 

own  self  until  the  regiment  gets  back.  If  my  regiment 
should  go  to  fighting  I  will  trot  down  there  on  a  double- 
quick  (poke)  march.  I  drew  some  coffee  for  my  company 
this  morning  and  sent  it  to  them.  Don't  laugh  at  me 
when  I  tell  you  what  I  sent  it  in.  I  took  the  legs  of  an  old 
pair  of  drawers  of  mine  (perfectly  clean),  and  put  the 
coffee  in  one  leg  and  the  sugar  in  the  other.  Rather  a 
queer  kind  of  a  saddle  bag,  was  it  not?  I  also  sent  the 
boys  potatoes,  in  bags,  as  black  as  the  ace  of  spades,  or 
clubs  either;  but  we  have  got  so  that  we  don't  want  any 
thing  better  than  a  gourd  or  a  turtle  shell  to  eat  out  of. 
Please  send  me  a  turtle  shell  or  two,  as  I  am  needing  a 
tray  very  bad.  If  you  can  do  so  I  will  take  it  as  a  great 
favor  of  you.  Captain  Thomas  Dean  has  resigned  his 
commission  and  gone  home,  and  A.  T.  Broyles  has  taken 
his  place  as  captain.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — On  the  I3th  of  October  I  wrote  again  to  my  wife,  but  there  is 
nothing  worth  repeating  in  it.  I  only  said  to  my  wife  that  the  only 
reason  we  did  not  fight  was  that  the  enemy  was  afraid  of  us  and  we  of 
them,  and  that  was  all  that  kept  us  apart. 


CAMP  NEAR  BULL  RUN,  1 

PRINCE  WILLIAM  Co.,  YA.,  October  19th,  1861.  j 
On  Tuesday  last  we  got  orders  to  again  pack  up  goods 
and  chattels  and  be  ready  to  move.  We  did  so,  and  re 
mained  up  all  night.  At  daybreak,  Wednesday  morning, 
we  started  and  got  the  extraordinary  distance  of  one 
hundred  yards,  and  remained  there  till  sundown,  and  then 
commenced  our  march.  We  got  within  about  a  half  mile 
of  this  place,  about  10  o'clock  at  night,  tired  out  and 
hungry.  Next  morning,  Thursday,  we  came  on  here,  near 
Bull  Run  Creek,  and  cleaned  out  a  place  for  our  camp, 
right  in  the  woods.  Our  entire  brigade  is  here,  and  our 
whole  army  has  fallen  back  from  near  the  Potomac  River, 
We  have  a  large  force  now  placed  up  and  down  this  creek 
for  sixteen  miles.  I  think  this  backward  movement  of 
ours  is  done  to  try  and  draw  the  enemy  from  their  in- 


54  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

trenchments  and  get  th'em  on  the  run  again  (Bull  Run). 
We  are  now  where  the  battle  was  fought  on  the  18th  of 
July  last,  arid  about  five  miles  below  Stone  Bridge,  where 
we  fought  on  the  21st. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  we  are  still  drawing  no  money. 
I  have  drawn  none  in  three  months.  It  is  hard  to  draw 
blood  out  of  a  turnip.  Our  camp  is  called  McLane's  Ford. 
Direct  to  Manassas  Junction,  Va.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA,  MCLANE'S  FORD,  ) 
PRINCE  WILLIAM  Co.,  VA.,  Nov.  3,  1861.  j 
A  thousand  and  one  reports  are  going  the  rounds  now, 
none  of  which  have  any  foundation.  I  shall  not  repeat 
them.  One  of  my  mess,  named  W7esley  Hale,  died  at  the 
hospital  on  the  27th  of  October  last  (Sunday).  He  had 
been  sick  several  weeks.  When  he  left  camp  he  told  me 
farewell,  and  said  he  never  expected  to  see  me  again,  and 
told  me  to  tell  all  the  boys  good-bye.  They  were  going 
on  picket  at  the  time.  I  have  written  to  his  wife  of  his 
death.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Ball  Thomas.  Night  before 
last  I  was  on  brigade  guard  again.  It  rained  a.ll  night 
and  the  wind  blew  tremendously  hard.  I  never  put  in  such 
a  night  in  my  life  before,  and  pray  God  that  I  never  may. 
Two  hours  before  day,  yesterday  morning,  our  regiment 
was  called  on  to  be  ready  to  start  on  picket  guard  again 
by  4  o'clock.  It  was  riot  time  to  go,  but  they  were 
doubling  our  pickets,  as  they  were  expecting  an  attack 
from  the  enemy.  It  rained  so  dreadfully  hard  that  they 
could  not  cook  up  any  rations;  so  they  went  off  in  the 
rain  without  a  mouthful  to  ea,t.  I  came  off  of  brigade 
guard  at  10  o'clock,  wet  from  nose  whistle  to  heel  gristle, 
arid  went  to  cooking  for  my  company.  I  got  a  note  from 
my  officers  to  send  all  the  prisoners  I  could  get  on  down 
to  them.  I  cooked  all  I  had  and  started  it  off  in  a  wagon 
at  4  o'clock;  the  other  companies  did  the  same,  there 
being  some  men  left  from  each  company.  I  put  it  in  sacks, 
and  on  one  of  the  sacks  tied  a  paper  with  the  following- 
lines  : 

"COMPANY  C,  FOURTH  REG.  S.  C.  VOLS. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  55 

"To  all  whom  it  may  concern  : 

"I  send  you  all  that  I  could  draw, 
So  eat  it  up  and  hold  your  jaw; 
For  this  is  all  that  I  could  get, 
1  don't  know  what  you  11  say  to  it." 

It  is  clear  this  morning,  but  I  fear  it  will  not  remain  so 
long.  If  we  have  to  keep  up  this  picket  guard  all  Winter — 
and  I  guess  we  will — it  will  no  doubt  be  the  death  of  some 
of  us  at  least. 

Six  O'CLOCK  P.  M.,  SAME  DAY. —  Smooth  and  cloudy 
again.  Told  you  so  this  morning.  Now,  you  see,  what  a 
philosopher  I  am.  You  can  tell  Mr.  Earle  that  I  shall  have 
to  back  out  from  editing  a  paper,  as  my  other  duties  will 
not  allow  me  time.  My  other  duties  will  be  making  alma 
nacs.  I  must  close;  it  is  getting  dark  and  gloomy. 

Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 
McLANE's  FORD,  VA.,  November  10th,  1861. 

Nothing  important;  all  quiet. 

You  say  that  you  made  a  barrel  of  saur  kraut.  I  want 
you  and  Irving,  between  you,  to  try  and  eat  your  own 
share  and  mine  too,  if  you  can;  it  won't  be  much;  only 
a  peck  a  day,  unless  it  is  when  I  am  sick.  In  that  case  it 
would  take  a  half  bushel. 

I  have  just  learned  that  there  are  ten  thousand  of  the 
enemy  about  ninety  miles  from  here,  in  Western  Virginia. 
A  brigade  of  five  regiments  of  Virginians  have  all  gone 
on  from  here  to  see  about  it.  A  regiment  of  Mississippians 
have  also  gone  there;  seen  them  start,  and  a  more  gigan 
tic  set  of  men  I  never  saw.  It  really  puzzled  me  to  tell 
which  one  of  them  it  was  that  pushed  the  bull  off  the 
bridge.  We  are  now  engaged  throwing  up  breastworks ; 
it  will  take  eight  or  ten  days  to  finish,  but  I  believe  that  I 
could  eat  all  the  cannon  balls  that  will  ever  be  thrown 
against  those  works  this  side  of  next  Spring;  know  I 


56  History  of  the  fourth  Regiment 

could  if  they  were  yam  potatoes.  Some  time  ago  we  sent 
some  of  our  blankets  to  Manassas  Junction  for  safe  keep 
ing;  had  been  trying  for  some  time  to  get  leave  to  go  after 
my  blankets,  but  could  not  get  leave;  so  yesterday  myself 
and  four  others  got  leave  to  flank  the  guard  which  was  at 
the  bridge  and  go  after  our  blankets ;  so  we  went  up  the 
creek  about  one  mile,  pulled  off  our  shoes  and  socks  and 
waded  across.  Jack  McKeen,  who  is  an  Irishman,  pulled 
off  his  B.  B.  pants.  The  water  was  over  knee  deep  and  as 
cold  as  Greenland,  but  we  got  across  and  went  on  our  way 
rejoicing.  It  was  about  five  miles.  We  got  our  blankets 
and  some  other  little  things  that  we  needed  and  started 
back.  By  this  time  it  was  raining,  but  through  rain  and 
mud  we  made  our  way  back  to  Bull  Run,  and  behold !  it 
had  risen  about  two  feet.  We  did  not  pull  off  anything 
this  time,  but  just  took  it  dry  so  (a  wet  so,  I  should  have 
said).  I  came  on  and  put  on  dry  clothes,  and  felt  pretty 
well,  considering. 

Since  writing  the  above  I  understand  that  some  of  the 
enemy  have  succeeded  in  landing  somewhere  between 
Charleston  and  Savannah.  If  so  it  is  clearly  necessary  that 
they  must  be  driven  back,  even  if  I  have  to  do  it  myself. 

1  send  you  $10  in  this  letter.  Do  with  it  as  you  think 
best.  You  know7  better  than  I  do  what  you  need. 

This  morning  I  put  on  the  new  suit  of  clothes  you  sent 
me,  and  feel  as  big  as  a  dog  in  a  meat  house.  I  will  now 
close.  Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA,        ) 
CENTREVILLE,  FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA.,  Nov.  18, 1861.  ] 
I  think  I  informed  you   in  my  last  letter  that  it  was 
rumored   we  were  to  move  again.    At  any  rate,  on  Mon 
day  morning  last  we  packed  up  goods  and   chattels   and 
came  on  to  this  place.    I  believe  I  have  had  occasion  to 
speak  of  Centreville  in  some  of  my  former  letters.    Some  of 
the  enemy   were  stationed  here  when  our  regiment  and 
Wheat's  Battalion  passed  within  three-fourths  of  a  mile  of 
em  in  going  from  Camp  Holcomb  to  Stone  Bridge,  on  the 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  57 

5th  of  July  last,  and  from  here  a  portion  of  our  own  men 
followed  the  enemy  on  the  21st  of  July,  when  they  left  be 
hind  apparently  all  of  their  army  stores.  I  passed  here  on 
the  23d  and  24th  of  September  last  in  going  to  and  com 
ing  from  Gainesville,  of  which  I  have  .already  spoken.  It  is 
one  of  the  highest  points  this  side  of  the  mountains.  The 
ground,  though  high,  is  quite  level  for  a  considerable  dis 
tance  on  all  sides.  The  situation  is  beautiful. 

Men  are  engaged  in  fortifying  our  position,  and  if 
Abraham  (or  Isaac  or  Jacob,  either,)  undertakes  to  drive 
us  out  he  will  find  it  harder  work  than  splitting  rails. 
When  our  lines  are  fully  established  they  will  be  about 
twenty-five  miles  long,  and  this  is  the  place  most  likely  to 
be  attacked,  as  it  is  on  the  main  turnpike  road,  the  only 
one  over  which  heavy  artillery  could  be  brought  at  this  sea 
son  of  the  year. 

This  is  the  opinion  of  High  Private  Reid.  My  opinion 
also  is  that  there  will  be  no  attack  before  next  spring ;  it  is 
too  cold. 

We  are  now  in  plain  view  of  the  mountains,  which  are 
covered  with  snow.  It  was  snowing  there  the  whole  night 
night  before  last  and  all  day  yesterday,  and  it  still  keeps 
up.  A  stormy  wind  is  blowing,  and  a  colder  day  I  never 
saw  or  want  to  see.  It  is  a  bad  time  in  camp  ;  every  man 
is  wrapped  up  in  a  blankets  and  hankerchiefs  (or  shirt- 
tails),  tied  around  their  jaws  and  ears.  And  this  is  only 
the  beginning  of  winter. 

While  sitting  in  my  tent  writing  this  letter  my  fingers 
are  stiff  with  cold.  My  nasty  cold  nose  keeps  dropping, 
and  the  blots  nearly  freeze  before  I  can  wipe  them  off  the 
paper.  Now,  don't  mistake  me  and  think  that  my  nose 
has  actually  dropped  off.  It  is  only  the  water  dripping 
from  it.  If  my  nose  was  to  drop  it  would  stay  off,  and  not 
keep  on  dropping. 

Yesterday,  while  no  one  was  in  the  tent,  a  coal  of  fire 
blew  into  our  baggage  and  burnt  a  hole  in  the  narrative  of 
my  broadcloth  coat.  It  also  burnt  holes  in  several  other 
garments  unnecessary  to  mention. 

So  far  as  my  smoked  eyes  can  see  there  are  nothing  but 
tents  and  encampments.  We  are  some  ten  miles  from 
Manassas  Junction,  three  miles  from  our  old  battle  field 


58  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 


and  some  twenty-five  miles  from  Washington  city.  Last 
night  some  of  our  men  came  in  with  thirty  prisoners  and 
five  wagons  loaded  with  corn,  together  with  forty  rnus- 
kets.  They  were  taken  somewhere  between  Fairfax  and 
Fall's  Church.  Eight  of  the  captured  party  made  their  es 
cape.  Among  the  prisoners,  however,  is  a  ca.ptain,  a  lieu 
tenant  and  three  non-commissioned  officers.  I  will  now 
stop  until  morning. 

NOVEMBER  18.    Nothing  new.    Cold  as  ice. 

I  omitted  in  a  former  letter  to  tell  you  the  name  given 
our  regiment.  As  we  went  to  Fall's  Church  on  picket  duty 
one  night,  every  regiment  we  passed  would  call  uut :  "What 
regiment  ?"  When  answered  we  were  allowed  to  pass  on. 
Upon  one  occasion  when  the  answer  was  given,  "The 
Fourth  regiment,  from  South  Carolina,"  some  big-throat 
ed  fellow  hollowed  out  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  "Good  God  ! 
is  that  the  old  'Bloody  Fourth,'  of  which  there  is  so  much 
talk  ?"  We  will  go  under  that  name  henceforward  and 
forever.  Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA,  ) 
CENTREVILLE,  NOVEMBER  24,  1861.  \ 
Nothing  new.  Our  officers  still  persist  in  saying  that  we 
will  have  a  fight  soon,  but  I  see  no  more  prospect  of  it 
now  than  I  did  two  months  ago.  My  private  opinion  is 
that  we  will  do  nothing  more  than  a  little  skirmishing  be 
fore  next  spring,  but  then  we  will  catch  it.  Gum-headed 
as  I  arn,  time  will  tell  whether  I  am  right  or  not.  The 
Federal  general  and  everybody  else  knows  that  a  burnt 
child  dreads  the  fire,  and  he  and  his  men,  too,  dread  their 
second  trip  to  Richmond,  and  well  they  may.  I  believe  it 
is  their  intention  to  draw  us  away  from  our  present  posi 
tion.  I  understand  that  they  are  making  some  feints  in 
South  Carolina.  It  is  only  done  to  get  us  away  from  here. 
They  don't  seem  to  have  forecast  enough  to  know  that 
there  are  now  enough  men  in  South  Carolina  to  defend  it. 
for  the  present,  arid  if  not,  the  women  of  oS  uth  Carolina 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  59 

would  help  them,  wouldn't  they,  Polly?  Tell  A.  M.  Hol 
land  to  take  his  two  boys  and  my  boy  and  go  down  and 
whip  the  last  one  of  them  out  of  their  boots,  if  they  have 
any  boots  on.  Perhaps  he  had  just  as  well  take  a  free 
nigger  along  to  act  as  a  reserve.  Or  would  it  be  best  to 
put  the  nigger  in  front  so  as  to  draw  their  attention  from 
the  whites  ?  A  nigger  woman  would  be  better. 

I  had  to  write  something  to  you  and  I  have  done  the 
best  I  could  under  existing  circumstances. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


CENTREVILLE,  YA.,  Nov.  26,  1861.— As  I  am  busy  nearly 
all  my  time  I  will  start  a  letter  to-day  and  finish  it  when  I 
have  a  chance.  We  had  a  big  time  here  yesterday,  and  all 
the  troops  were  called  out  and  reviewed  by  General  Beau- 
regard.  I  am  again  on  brigade  guard  to-day,  and  have 
come  to  camp  for  my  dinner. 

Reports  are  current  here  to-day  that  the  enemy  is  ad 
vancing.  I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it.  We  are  ordered  to 
again  send  off  our  heavy  baggage.  We  have  unanimously 
and  with  one  accord  not  done  so.  If  I  have  to  loose  my 
things  at  all  I  had  about  as  leave  loose  them  here  as  else 
where,  so  my  things  don't  go. 

I  said  that  1  did  not  believe  that  theenemy  were  advanc 
ing.  One  grand  reason  why  I  don't  believe  it  is  that  our 
advanced  pickets  are  not  driven  in,  which  they  un 
doubtedly  would  be  if  the  enemy  were  advancing.  They 
may  make  some  people  believe  these  reports,  but  I  don't 
believe  them.  I  also  have  several  other  reasons  for  disbe 
lief — the  maneuvers  of  our  big  officers  don't  denote  it. 

I  will  now  have  to  stop  and  go  back  to  my  post. 

WEDNESDAY  EVENING,  November  27th.— I  have  been  re 
lieved  from  brigade  guard.  I  was  relieved  at  10  o'clock 
this  morning.  To-day  is  the  worst  day  that  we  have  had. 
It  is  snowing  and  sleeting,  and  is  cold  enough  to  freeze. 
Between  you  and  I,  I  wish  it  was  not. 


60  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment, 

Not  much  talk  of  Yankees  to-day.  T  \veri  ty-eight  prison- 
ers  brought  in  to-day.  They  won't  tell  us  much.  I  have 
heard  so  much  of  another  big  fight  that  I  believe  I  would 
rather  see  it  than  to  hear  of  it.  It  is  now  late  in  the  even 
ing  and  has  quit  snowing. 

THURSDAY  EVENING  Nov.  28th—  The  biggest  day  yet. 
This  morning  at  10.30  o'clocK  everybody  and  the  cook 
was  called  out,  and  each  regiment  was  presented  with  a 
battle  flag.  General  Beau  regard  was  again  present  and 
so  was  everybody  else.  It  was  the  grandest  time  we  have 
ever  had.  We  were  told  that  the  flags  were  made  and  sent 
to  us  by  our  wives,  mothers  and  sisters,  with  an  order 
from  them  to  defend  them.  We  will  most  assur 
edly  obey  that  order.  We  were  drawn  up  in  a  hollow 
square  and  several  speeches  were  made.  There  were  sev 
eral  bands  of  music  on  hand,  and,  as  each  regiment  filed 
off  toward  their  quarters,  every  band  struck  up  "Pop  Goes 
the  Weasel."  I  have  never  heard  or  seen  such  a  time  be- 
before.  The  noise  of  the  men  was  deafening.  I  felt  at  the 
time  that  I  could  whip  a  whole  brigade  of  the  enemy  my 
self,  but  after  due  reflection  I  concluded  that  I  couldn't. 

FRIDAY  NIGHT  (candle  light),   Nov.    29.  —  I  have    been 
throwing  up  breastworks  all  day  and  a,m  very  tired.  I  will 
o  to  bed. 


SATURDAY  EVENING,  Nov.  30.  —  Another  big  day  to-day. 
General  Johnson  was  present  this  time.  We  had  a  big  mus 
ter.  Our  line  was  three-fourths  of  a  mile  long.  We  are  to 
have  an  inspection  of  arms  to-morrow  at  10  o'clock.  I 
hear  nothing  of  the  enemy  to-day,  or  nothing  about  an 
other  fight. 

There  are  one  or  more  buried  here  every  day,  but  then 
there  so  many  of  them  here  that  there  will  be  some  of 
them  dying  quite  often. 

The  mountains  are  again  covered  with  snow,  and  if  we 
have  to  remain  in  these  old  tents  all  winter  it  will  hurt  us 
worse  than  the  Federal  army.  My  captain,  A.  T.  Broyles, 
and  a  man  named  Rochester,  of  my  company,  were  sent  off 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  61 

to  the  hospital  to-day.  There  is  another  one  too  sick  to 
be  carried  off.  He  will  die.  His  name  is  Murray— a  son  of 
Mitchel  Murray. 

I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  the  wife  of  Wesley  Hale, 
who,  I  informed  you,  had  died  at  hospital  some  time  ago. 
She  thanks  me  very  much  for  writing  to  her.  She  requests 
me  to  still  correspond  with  her  occasionally,  so  that  she 
may  know  how  things  are  out  here.  I  will  do  so,  although 

I  have  never  seen  her.    Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  KEID. 

NOTE.— I  became  well  acquainted  with  Mrs.  Hale  after  the  war.  She 
afterward  married  Marion  Cox,  both  of  Anderson  county,  S.  C. 

J.  W.  R. 


ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA,         | 
CENTRE  VILLE,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA.,  Dec.  12,  1861.    ] 
I  again  commence  writing  with  nothing  to  write  about. 

I  can  say  that  I  am  still  at  Centreville,  though  General 
McClelland  can't  boast  of  being  here.  So  you  see  I  am  ris 
ing  in  the  world  like  smoke.  I  can  stay  at  a  place  where 
the  greatest  general  of  the  United  States  army  dare  not 
come. 

I  have  seen  and  heard  so  much  since  coming  to  Virginia 
that  nothing  less  than  an  earthquake  or  forty  storms 
combined  in  one  can  make  much  impression  on  me.  If  L 
could  not  sleep  soundly  now  when  there  are  one  hundred 
men  singing,  fourteen  preaching,  twenty-one  praying, 
eleven  making  political  speeches  (with  unbounded  ap 
plause),  eight  playing  fiddles,  twenty-seven  beating  drums, 
two  hundred  playing  clarionets,  flutes  and  fifes,  fourteen 
thousand,  nine  hundred  and  twenty-eight  playing  cards, 
forty-eight  wrestling,  eighteen  patting  "jubah"  and  one 
reading  his  Bible  ;  if  I  could  not  sleep  and  all  that  going 
on  within  one  hundred  yards  of  me,  and  at  the  same  time 
raining  and  freezing,  with  a  wet  sheet  around  me  and 
perched  on  a  liberty  pole — I  say  that  if  I  could  not  sleep 
under  these  favorable  circumstances  of  course  I  would  not 
say  that  I  could. 


62  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

On  Saturday  last  we  again  went  off  on  picket  and  re 
turned  on  Tuesday.  We  saw  nothing  of  our  enemy,  while 
I  walked  off  a  mile  or  so  to  myself  several  times.  How 
strange  it  did  seem  to  be  alone. 

There  is  as  much  rumor  here  as  ever.  Some  days,  if  we 
could  believe  rumor  we  would  think  we  would  soon  be  in 
South  Carolina.  And  perhaps  on  the  next  day,  according 
to  the  same  gentleman,  we  are  going  to  the  city  of  Wash 
ington,  and  by  the  next  day  somewhere  else.  By  to-mor 
row,  according  to  Mr.  Rumor,  we  may  be  the  other  side  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line. 

It  is  now  stated,  and  I  believe  it  a  fact,  that  we  will 
be  called  upon  to  re-volunteer  for  three  years,  or  during 
the  war.  As  all  that  will  do  so  will  get  a  furlough  home 
and  $50  bounty,  it  is  a  very  good  bait,  and  one  tha,t  a 
great  many  will  bite  at,  but  I  don't  expect  to  even  nibble. 
Still,  I'm  in  favor  of  the  plan,  as  we  are  obliged  to  keep  an 
army  here  or  give  up  the  ghost,  and  if  an  army  is  not 
raised  in  this  way  it  will  have  to  be  done  by  drafting.  In 
April  my  time  will  be  out,  and  then  I  will  sing,  "0,  carry 
me  back,  0  carry  me  back,  from  Old  Virginia's  shore/' 

There  were  two  men  of  Wheat's  battalion  shot  here  the 
other  day  by  order  of  court  martial.  It  was  an  awful  af 
fair.  It  is  now  night  and  very  cold.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


CENTREVILLE,  YA.,  Dec.  22,  1861. — There  was  a  battle 
fought  a  few  miles  above  here  day  before  yesterda-y,  in 
which  our  side  was  considerably  worsted.  One  of  the  regi 
ments  of  my  brigade  wras  in  it — the  Sixth  regiment.  They 
lost  eighty-three  men  killed  and  wounded.  Some  of  the  regi 
ment  fared  even  worse  than  that.  They  are  now  bringing 
some  of  the  dead  here  to  bury  them.  I  hear  them  playing 
the  dead  march  at  the  cemetery.  Oh,  how  lonesome  ! 

I  have  been  again  to-day  to  visit  the  old  battlefield.  I 
never  want  to  see  it  again.  I  saw  the  stump  I  got  behind 
for  a  while  that  day,  thinking  it  might  shelter  me  a  little, 
but  if  a  cannon  ball  had  hit  it,  it  would  have  torn  the 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.     .  63 

stump  and  me,  too,  all  to  pieces,  and  some  of  them  did 
not  miss  it  very  far.  The  stump  is  about  ten  inches  high 
and  nearly  rotton.  A  drowning  man  will  catch  at  a 
straw.  My  whole  company  was  lying  down  at  the  time  I 
am  speaking  of.  It  was  while  we  were  on  the  hill  in 
front  of  Stone  Bridge. 

As  many  as  eight  at  a  time  can  get  furlough  now  to  go 
home,  but  I  positively  don't  want  one  when  I  come  home. 
I  want  to  remain  a  while.  Christmas  will  soon  be  here 
and  then  the  14th  of  April  will  quickly  follow.  I  send  some 
money  in  this  letter.  Do  with  it  as  you  think  best. 

Yours  as  ever.  J.  W.  REID. 


CENTREVILLE,  VA.,  Dec.  24,  1861. — In  your  letter  you 
say  that  my  dog  Bear  has  not  forgotten  me.  I  will  bet 
you  a  jewsharp  to  a  fiddlestring  that  if  you  don't  mind 
him  when  I  come  home  he  will  bite  me,  thinking  I  am  an 
orangotang,  and  the  very  first  words  you  will  say  will  be, 
u Jesse,  do  pray  shave  before  you — before  long."  My 
whiskers  come  down  to — well,  they  come  away  down  yon 
der,  and  I  can  put  my  moustaches  over  my  ears.  Ami  not 
a  paragon  of  beauty  ?  To-day  we  began  building  log 
cabins  for  winter  quarters.  I  wished  they  were  finished, 
for  last  night  my  tent  blew  over  and  I  came  very  near 
freezing  to  death. 

No  war  news,  and  I  hope  there  w?on't  be  soon.  I  will  stop 
DOW  till  to-morrow. 

CHRISTMAS  DAY,  3  O'CLOCK  p.  M.— Well,  Christmas  is  here, 
and  in  a  few  hours  will  be  where  eighteen  hundred  others 
are,  in  the  past.  How  often  have  you  and  my  sisters,  and 
others,  perhaps,  said,  "I  wish  Jesse  had  some  of  this," 
when  you  were  enjoying  your  little  Chsistmas  tricks,  but 
never  mind  Jesse  on  such  occasions ;  he  is  faring  very  well, 
considering. 

In  spite  of  Major-General  Law  and  Gospel,  most  of  the 
boys  managed  to  get  a  wee  drop  to-day,  but  all  has  been 
very  quiet,  there  being  no  more  noise  than  three  earth- 


64  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

quakes  and  a  cyclone,  and  that  is  nothing  unusual  here. 
For  my  part  I  have  not  tasted  a  drop.  One  reason  for  it 
is  that  the  stuff  is  too  high,  being  $5.00  a  quart  for  the 
worst  kind  of  "rot  skull."  Having  drunk  none  myself  I 
will  miss  the  supreme  felicity  of  the  blues  and  headache. 

I  told  you  in  a  former  letter  that  Captain  Broyles  was  at 
the  hospital,  and  to-day  First-Lieutenant  D.  L.  Hall  was 
sent  off.  Our  second  lieutenant,  William  Jones,  is  also  at 
the  hospital.  This  leaves  but  one  commissioned  officer  in 
the  company,  G.  W.  Belcher,  thii'd  lieutenant.  Your 
nephew,  William  jTripp,  was  also  sent  of  this  morning.  He 
will  die.  Before  this  reaches  you  Christmas  will  be  over, 
and  then  you  can  begin  to  look  for  April  and— 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE.— William  Tripp  died  that  same  evening.  About  the  time  I 
wrote  these  letters  and  for  some  time  afterwards  there  were  no  active 
operations  going  on.  Most  of  them  will  not  greatly  interest  the  read 
ers  of  to-day,  so  I  will  run  over  them  pretty  fast,  until  I  come  to  more 
exciting  times.  However,  I  will  not  leave  any  of  them  out  entirely,  as 
they  may  contain  some  things  of  interest.  I  also  wish  to  give  our 
travels  in  the  fall,  as  I  have  undertaken  to  do  so.  These  letters  mav  no 
doubt  be  a  little  dull  to  the  reader  at  this  time,  but  just  follow  me  a 
while  and  I  will  raise  your  bristles.  J.  \V.  R. 


CENTKEVILLE,  VA.,  Dec.  28,  1861.— I  have  gotten  a  new 
tent  since  last  I  wrote  you,  and  am  much  more  comforta 
ble  than  before.  We  are  still  working  on  our  huts,  but  the 
weather  is  so  bad  that  \ve  are  getting  along  rather  slowly. 
Our  wagons  have  so  much  to  do  hauling  firewood  and 
provisions  that  they  have  but  little  time  to  haul  lumber 
for  houses,  if  pine  poles  can  be  called  lumber.  We  are  get 
ting  the  boards  for  covering  our  shanties  at  Stone  Bridge, 
in  a  swamp.  We  cut  the  trees  just  before  the  battle,  and 
they  were  felled  across  the  road  and  all  over  the  place  as 
an  obstruction  to  retard  the  enemy  in  their  march  on-Eich- 
mond. 

Clayton  Jones,  one  of  my  company  and  a  good  friend  of 
mine,  died  at  the  hospital  on  Christmas  day. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  65 

A  man  belonging1  to  the  second  Georgia  regiment  was 
frozen  to  death  the  other  night.  He  was  sick  and  had  to 
go  out  during  the  night,  and  was  found  frozen  the  next 
morning. 

An  old  acquaintance  of  mine  named  Wryle,  whom  I 
knew  in  Newberry,  died  last  week.  He  belonged  to  an 
Alabama  regiment. 

This  thing  of  getting  a  thirty  days'  furlough  is  said  to 
be  all  knocked  in  the  head,  and  I  arn  glad  of  it. 

The  hat  I  told  you  of  swapping  for  in  July  last  has  be 
come  more  holy  than  righteous,  so  yesterday  I  got  a  cap 
that  has  ear  covers,  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem  I  have 
already  had  it  over  two  (y)ears. 

NIGHT. — (8  o'clock.) — A  powerful  cannonading  going  on 
down  toward  Fairfax  this  evening.  I  cannot  get  informa 
tion  as  to  its  meaning,  but  if  the  enemy  should  succeed  in 
reaching  this  place  they  will  know  the  way  back,  as  they 
traveled  the  same  road  before  at  a  double  quick  on  July 
21st  last. 

Tell  Irving  to  go  to  school  now  wrhile  he  has  an  oppor 
tunity.  On  the  23d  of  December,  1837,  my  father  (a 
school  teacher),  was  well;  on  the  25th  he  wras  buried.  I 
never  went  to  school  after  he  died,  as  I  had  no  chance  to 
go,  though  I  was  only  twelve  years  old.  I  want  Irving  to 
go  all  he  can  while  he  has  the  opportunity  of  going.  We 
don't  know  what  a  day  may  bring  forth. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  VV.  KEID. 

NOTE. — On  the  5th  of  January,  1862,  I  wrote  again  to  my  family,  but 
there  is  nothing  in  the  letter  worth  repeating.  We  had  received  an 
oide  -Siot  to  write  anything  home  concerning  our  whereabouts,  num 
bers  or  movements  in  any  way.  To  this  order  I  paid  no  attention,  but 
continued  writing  as  I  had  before,  as  you  will  see.  J.  W.  R. 


CENTREVILLE,  VA.,  Jan.  7.  1862.— Some  of  our  men  still 
contend  that  we  will  have  a  fight  soon.  It  is  the  next 
thing  to  impossible,  for  the  enemy  cannot  bring  their  artil- 
Aery  here  while  theroads  arein  their  present  condition,  and 


66  History  of  the  fourth  Regiment 

they  are  not  likely  to  attack  us  with  nothing  but  small 
arms,  but  if  we  should  accidentally  have  a  little  brush  you 
will  hear  of  it.  Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


CONFEDERATE  HOSPITAL,        ) 
CHARLOTTESVILLE,  VA.,  Jan.  14, 1862.    } 

I  am  at  length  an  inmate  of  the  hospital.  On  Wednes 
day  last  we  were  again  sent  on  picket  duty  near  Fairfax 
County,  some  six  miles  from  Centrev.ille.  It  rained  pretty 
hard,  and  I  got  wet  and  had  to  remain  so,  as  my  blanket 
and  everything  I  had  with  me  was  wet,  with  no  way  to  dry 
them.  On  Friday  I  was  quite  unwell  and  at  night  had  a 
severe  chill  with  pains  in  my  jaws  and  head.  My  head 
grew  worse  and  I  soon  became  unconscious.  My  throat 
was  very  sore.  They  said  I  talked  all  night,  often  calling 
"Polly.'' 

T  was  sent  back  to  camp  on  Saturday.  The  doctor  gave 
me  some  medicine  and  kept  my  head  wet  with  cold  water 
and  on  Sunday  morning  I  was  sent  on  to  Manassas  Junc 
tion  and  remained  there  under  a  doctor  until  Monday 
morning,  when  I  was  sent  on  to  this  place,  a  distance,  I 
suppose,  of  about  one  hundred  miles.  I  am  much  better 
at  present,  though  my  head  is  still  somewhat  painful.  I 
will  be  all  right  in  a  short  time,  and  as  soon  as  I  am  able 
I  will  go  back  to  camp,  for  I  do  riot  like  to  be  at  a  hospi 
tal.  It  sounds  sickly. 

I  find  several  of  our  Greenville  friends  here.  Among  them 
are  David  Westfield,  Wash.  Richardson,  Jasper  Smith, 
James  Torrarit,  and  an  acquaintance  of  mine  from  New- 
byrry  named  Hunt,  and  many  others  from  different  places/ 

Soldiers  are  dying  here  every  day  more  or  less. 

I  am  in  sight  of  Monticello.  the  home  of  Thomas  Jeffer 
son,  who  wrote  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  was  afterwards  President  of  the 
same.  I  will  try  to  visit  the  place  before  I  return  to  camp. 
I  will  write  again  soon,  as  I  know  you  will  be  anxious  to 
hear  from  me.  Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  67 

NOTE. — I  visited  Monticellolbefore  I  left,  and  also  the  University  of 
Virginia  and  all  other  places  of  importance  that  I  could. 

I  may  be  mistaken  in  the  distance  from  Manassas  to  Charlottesville, 
as  I  only  guessed  at  it.  J.  W.  R. 


CENTREVILLE,  YA.,  Jan.  23, 1892.— On  Sunday  I  came  on 
to  Manassas  Junction  where  I  remained  all  night.  When 
I  stepped  out  into  the  street  on  Monday  morning,  lo  and 
behold,  I  was  up  to  my  knees  in  mud.  While  standing 
there,  wondering  in  which  way  I  should  go,  who  should  I 
see  but  Wheeler  Gilmore,  just  returned  from  home.  He  was 
as  deep  in  the  mud  as  I  was  in  the  mire.  We  managed  to 
get  together  and  sloshed  along  as  best  we  could.  I  never 
in  all  my  life  saw7  such  a  muddy  road.  I  remarked  to  Gil- 
more  that  this  must  be  that  dismal  road  which  multi 
tudes  pursue.  It  had  been  traveled  so  much  as  to  be 
about  the  consistency  of  mush  soap.  We  reached  here  in 
the  evening  looking  like  ground  hogs.  Everything  here  is 
about  as  usual— all  talk  and  nothing  done,  all  cry  and  no 
wool.  There  is  nothing  talked  of  here  but  revolunteering 
and  going;  home  when  our  time  is  out.  I  can  only  speak 
for  myself  in  this  matter.  I  have  now  been  from  home 
nearly  one  year  and  have  never  applied  for  a  furlough,  nor 
do  I  intend  doing  so.  I  have  always  been  at  my  post, 
have  gone  through  dangers  and  hardships  innumerable 
and  have  never  grumbled.  I  have  never  had  a  day's  rest 
from  my  toils  and  sufferings,  and  now  that  the  time  is  ap 
proaching  when  my  time  will  be  out  I  shall  most  assuredly 
take  advantage  of  it  and  come  home,  but  I  am  well  aware 
that  I  cannot  content  myself  very  long  and  my  comrades 
still  in  service.  Still,  I  will  come  if  I  can  and  take  my  time 
my  time  about  coming  back. 

The  weather  is  very  bad — raining  and  freezing  or  snowT- 
ing  nearly  all  the  time.  We  have  gotten  into  our  huts, 
called  winter  quarters.  We  are  dreadfully  crowded.  I  have 
nine  men  in  my  hut.  Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


68  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

CENTREVILLE,  Va.,  Feb.  7,  1862.— We  went  on  picket  on 
Saturday  were  returned  on  Tuesday.  We  had  a  very 
rough  time.  It  snowed  nearly  all  the  time  and  was  very 
cold,  but  we  are  getting  so  that  we  do  not  mind  the 
weather,  so  the  wind  don't  blow.  But  the  wind  did  blow 
almost  a  storm,  though  none  of  us  froze.  It  is  always  too 
hot  or  too  cold  for  some  people,  but  we  have  gotten  so 
that  we  do  not  mind  heat  or  cold. 

You  will  see  that  a  good  many  of  the  boys  are  re-volun 
teering  and  coining  home  for  thirty  days.  You  will  also 
see  that  I  am  not  doing  so.  Some  may  think  that  I  should, 
but  I  think  differently.  Let  those  who  are  at  home  come 
next,  and  [  will  take  turns  with  them. 

Some  of  the  men  here  are  doing  all  they  can  to  get 
others  to  re-volunteer,  but  are  not  doing  so  themselves. 
Human  nature  will  show  itself.  The  boys  can  and  no 
doubt  will  tell  you  more  than  I  can  (or  would)  write,  but 
you  need  not  take  what  they  say  as  Gospel  facts.  If  you 
could  credit  all  tha,t  some  of  them  tell  you,  you  would 
think  that  we  would  have  suffered  an  ignominious  defeat 
at  Stone  Bridge  had  they  not  beten  present.  There  are  one 
or  two  who  were  not  with  us,  but  I  believe  they  did  more 
to  Avin  the  battle  than  those  who  participated  in  it,  or  at 
least  you  would  think  so  from  hearing  them  talk. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — I  sent  the  above  letter  and  some  other  things  home  by  Zion 
Lofton,  who  had  re-volnnteered  and  gotten  a  furlough  to  go  home,  as 
did  also  many  others.  j.  W.  R. 


CENTREVILLE,  YA.,  Feb.  16,  1862.— They  are  still  calling 
upon  us  to  re-volunteer, and  some  few  of  ttjemen  aredoing 
so,  but  as  the  Scotchman  said,  they  can  call  loud  and  long- 
before  they  get  me. 

My  7-egiment  has  just  returned  from  another  tour  on 
picket.  I  did  not  go.  One  of  my  mess,  named  Jeff  Pitts, 
had  a  spell  of  cramp  colic  the  night  before,  and  my  cap 
tain  got  me  to  stay  and  attend  to  him.  The  captain  did 
not  have  to  use  force  to  make  me  stay.  Pitts  was  really 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  (>9 

badly  off,  and  was  the  worst  scared  man  I  ever  saw.  He 
talked  a  good  deal  about  another  world  he  expected  soon 
to  visit,  but  he  did  not  seem  to  think  he  would  suffer  cold 
there  as  he  was  here.  In  fact,  he  seemed  to  think  he  would 
cross  the  equatorial  line  and  enter  the  torrid  zone.  He 
told  me  a  great  many  things  to  tell  his  wife,  which  I  doubt 
if  he  tells  her  the  next  time  he  sees  her.  Pitts  is  now  as 
well  as  ever,  and  says  he  is  going  to  do  better  from  this 
time  on,  but  will  soon  forget  to  until  he  has  another  spell 
of  colic.  He  begs  me  now  not  to  tell  what  he  said  when  he 
thought  he  was  going  to  his  daddys'. 

I  hope  I  can  soon  come  home,  but  when  I  do  come  I  will 
be  nearly  in  the  condition  in  which  I  came  into  the  world, 
so  far  as  pants  go,  but  I  will  try  to  keep  them  patched  up 
until  then.  It  is  well  known  here  that  I  keep  a  large 
needle.  Some  one  is  continually  wanting  to  borrow  it. 
When  I  ask  the  question,  "What  do  you  want  with  it  the 
answer  invariably  is,  "To  sew  up  my  breeches."  Of  course 
1  always  let  them  have  it,  well  knowing  what  a  spectacle  I 
would  present  had  I  no  needle.  Nothing  more  at  present. 
Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


CENTREVILLE,  VA.,  Mach  1,  1862.— I  have  just  returned 
from  another  tour  on  picket.  We  were  gone  four  days. 
We  have  had  a  very  bad  time,  the  snow  being  nearly  knee 
deep.  While  on  picket  we  got  out  of  rations,  but  it  was 
on  the  day  that  our  wagons  were  to  bring  provisions  from 
Warren  ton  to  camp.  That  evening  I  volunteered  to  go  to 
camp  and  bring  back  some  rations  next  morning,  provid 
ing  someone  would  go  with  me.  The  officer  in  command 
then  called  for  a  volunteer  from  each  company  to  go  with 
rne  and  get  provisions  for  the  other  companies.  But  none 
would  volunteer.  Neither  would  any  one  go  with  me  from 
my  own  company.  By  this  time  it  was  nearly  night  and 
four  miles  to  camp.  I  started  alone. 

I  went  through  the  cold  wind  that  evening, 

None  else  of  the  regiment  would  go  ; 
I  followed  my  own  tracks  the  next  morning, 

That  were  deeply  indented  in  snow. 


70  History  oi  the  Fourtli  Regiment 

I  had  no  road  to  guide  me  and  went  entirely  by  guess, 
but  I  finally  succeeded  in  getting  to  camp,  about  one  hour 
after  dark,  tired  down  and  nearly  frozen.  I  got  rations 
for  my  company — hog's  head  and  backbone.  Some  of  the 
boys  who  had  been  left  at  camp  sick,  told  me  to  lie  down 
and  let  them  do  the  cooking.  I  did  so,  and  about  11 
o'clock  was  awakened  to  supper.  I  got  up  and  ate  that 
fresh  meat  with  a  doubly-distilled  vengeance.  Next  morn 
ing  an  hour  or  so  before  day  I  put  my  provisions  in  asack, 
threw  it  over  my  shoulder  and  started.  After  leaving  the 
camp  I  had  nothing  to  guide  me  except  the  tracks  I  made 
in  the  snow  the  night  before.  I  reached  my  company  just 
after  daybreak.  The  boys  fairly  shouted  over  me,  and  the 
remark  was  made  by  many  of  them  that  they  would  never 
forget  me.  When  I  left  camp  to  go  for  rations  I  had  ten 
biscuits  in  my  haversack,  and  told  Willis  Dickson  to  get 
them  and  eat  them  that  night.  When  he  looked  for  them 
they  were  gone — stolen. 

There  is  plenty  of  news  but  none  true. 

The  weather  is  the  coldest  I  have  ever  seen.  I  have  on  a 
flannel  shirt,  a  cotton  ditto,  my  uniform  coat,  my  broad 
cloth  coat,  my  overcoat,  and  all  my  old  breeches 
and  am  trembling  as  I  write,  but  I  hope  my  nose  won't 
drop  again.  I  will  stop  writing  and  try  to  warm. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  VV.  REID. 

NOTE. — Boys,  you  who  are  living,  have  you  forgotten  my  trip  through 
the  Snow  for  rations  ?  I  suppose  you  have  not.  I  never  shall.  About 
the  time  I  wrote  letters  everything  was  still.  It  did  not  remain  so  long, 
as  you  will  see. 

I  wrote  a  few  lines  home  March  nth,  but  it  is  of  no  importance. 

J.  W.  R. 


CAMP  TAYLOR,  OKANGE  COUNTY,  VA.,  March  23d,  1862.— 
I  cannot  at  present  give  you  a  full  history  of  our  travels 
from  Centre ville  to  this  place,  but  will  do  the  best  I  can. 
We  left  Centreville  on  Sundav,  March  9th,  and  that  day  a 
prisoner  we  had  with  us,  said  to  be  seventy-two  years  old, 
dropped  dead  as  we  were  marching  along.  We  had  four 
teen  prisoners.  We  reached  Gainesville  that  day,  the 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  71 

place  we  first  got  off  the  cars  when  we  carne  to  Virginia, 
and  where  I  told  you  of  going;  for  my  clothes.  This  is  a 
march  of  ten  miles.  Next  day  we  passed  several  little  towns 
and  villages,  among  them  Buchanan,  New  Baltimore  and 
Warreriton,  a  considerable  place;  march  fourteen  miles. 
Tuesday,  March  llth,  crossed  Rappahannock  river  at 
Waterloo  Factory  (saw  lots  of  girls),  passed  Amesville  and 
camped ;  marched  twenty  miles.  Wednesday,  12th,  passed 
Washington  village,  Games'  Cross  Roads  and  Spearsville; 
marched  twelve  miles.  Thursday  we  passed  Woodville  and 
Little  Boston  ;  marched  eight  miles.  Friday  and  Satur 
day  we  rested  on  a  small  mountain.  Sunday  16th, 
inarched  eight  miles.  Monday,  passed  Culpepper  Court 
house;  go  eight  "miles  Tuesday,  18th;  cross  Robinson 
river  and  the  Rapid  nn  by  making  a  foot  way  with  wagons  ; 
go  ten  miles.  Wednesday,  rested.  Here  a  man  named 
McMahon,  belonging  to  the  Fifth  South  Carolina  regiment, 
was  killed  by  a  falling  tree.  It  was  cut  down  for  a  squir 
rel.  WTe  remained  there  until  Saturday,  the  22d,  then 
passed  Orange  Courthouse  and  came  on  to  this  place,  four 
miles,  so  you  see,  we  have  traveled  nearly  a  hundred  miles, 
though  between  Centreville  and  this  place  the  distance  is 
not  more  than  half  that  great  by  rail.  We  came  by  a 
very  circuitous  route  on  account  of  most  of  it  being  good 
hard  road.  It  is  a  mountainous  country,  arid  \ve  traveled 
some  distance  on  the  Blue  Ridge,  from  which  Ave  could 
plainly  see  the  Allfghany  mountains.  It  made  me  think  of 

Come,  cheer  uy  pretty  Polly,  and  go  along  with  me, 
And  a  lady  I  will  make  of  you  in  the  Alleghanies. 

Although  this  trip  was  gratifying  to  me  it  was  attended 
with  a  good  many  hardships,  such  as  hard  marching, 
heavy  baggage,  and  for  last  two  or  three  days  came 
through  enough  mud  to  daub  every  negro  cabin  in  the 
Southern  Confederacy.  We  carried  our  knapsacks,  with 
our  clothing  and  blankets  in  them,  our  haversacks  with 
our  provisions  and  canteens  of  water,  cartridge  boxes 
with  ammunition,  our  bayonet  belts  with  bayonets  in  them 
and  our  muskets  on  our  shoulders— a  pretty  good  load. 


72  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

You  may  suppose  we  had  little  room  for  bottles,  yet  there 
were  some  along. 

Our  entire  army  is  falling  back,  some  going  by  one  road 
and  some  by  another.  The  Federal  army  is  also  chang 
ing  their  position.  I  think  they  are  going  by  water,  but 
where  they  are  moving  I  don't  know  or  care.  But  let  the 
enemy  go  where  they  will  there  we  will  be  also.  No  more 
at  present.  Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


[  The  following  letter  is  in  answer  to  the  first  letter  my  son,  W.  Irving 
Reid,  ever  wrote  me  with  his  own  hand.  It  will  not  be  interesting,  but 
as  the  advice  I  give  may  be  of  value  to  the  boys  of  to-day  I  will  publish 
it  here.] 

CAMP  TAYLOR,  ORANGE  COUNTY,  VA.,  March  27, 1862.— 
MyJ)ear  Son  :  I  received  your  very  welcome  letter,  inclosed 
in  one  your  mother  sent.  I  am  very  happy  to  see  you  can 
write  papa  a  letter,  and  you  wish  me  to^say  what  I  think 
of  your  handwriting.  I  think  it  will  do  very  well  consid 
ering  your  opportunities  of  going  to  school,  but  still  I 
must  say  there  is  considerable  room  for  improvement.  Go 
to  school  and  learn  all  you  can.  I  have  known  some  ex 
cellent  scholors  who  were  very  poor  writers.  Penmanship 
is  not  education.  Lrarn  to  spell  well,  to  pronounce  well 
and  learn  all  you  can  about  arithmetic.  If  you  lea,rn  these 
things  well  you  will  be  qualified  for  almost  any  kind  of 
business.  A  fine  copperplate  handwriting  is  not  always  a 
sign  of  a  good  scholar.  And  above  all,  my  son,  learn  to 
conduct  yourself  well  and  to  be  an  agreeable  companion 
in  good  society  and  you  will  get  through  the  world  all 
right.  In  the  first  place,  and  the  first,  thing  for  a  child  to 
do,  is  to  obey  and  honor  their  parents,  and  to  remember 
their  Creator  in  the  days  of  their  youth.  He  says,  and 
He  cannot  lie:  "Seek  Me  early  and  ye  shall  find  Me."  He 
don't  say,  "Ye  may  find  Me/'  or  "Ye  can  find  Me."  But 
thank  God,  he  says,  "Ye  shall  find  Me." 

Try  to  find  Him  as  your  mother  has  done.  If  I  find  you 
as  good  a  boy  as  I  left  you  I  will  be  satisfied. 

You  want  to  know  if  I  want  to  see  you  as  bad  as  your 


South  Carolina,  Volunteers.  73 


mother.    I  will  now  tell  you  an  anecdote. 

Once  upon  a  time  an  old  negro,  who  had  an  old  master 
and  a  young  master,  went  to  preaching  one  day.  When 
he  returned  his  old  master  asked  him  what  he  thought  of 
the  sermon.  He  replied  that  the  preacher  had  told  two 
lies.  One  was  that  no  man  can  serve  two  masters,  "an' 
dat  am  a  lie,  kase  1  knows  I  sarve  you  an  Mas'  Jimmy 
bof ,  an'  den  he  say  he'dlove  one  and  hate  de  odder,  an'  dat 
am  a  lie,  for  Goramighty  knows  I  hate  ye  bof '."  No\v, 
as  to  your  mother  and  \ou,  Goramighty  knows  I — love 
you  both.  Let  me  hear  from  you  again.  Your  papa, 

J.  W.  REID. 


CAMP  TAYLOR,  OKANGE  COUNTY,  VA.,  April  5,  1802.— 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  talk  here  about  a  bill  now  before 
Congress.  The  bill  proposes  to  keep  all  the  men  in  the 
army  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  thirty-five  years  of 
age,  and,  as  the  girl  said,  that  lets  me  out.  The  bill  also 
proposes  to  keep  those  under  eighteen  and  those  over 
thirty-five  years  old  in  the  service  for  ninety  days  after 
their  time  is  out,  and  that  catches  me  again.  I  know  that 
this  bill  is  before  Congress,  for  I  read  it  myself  in  a  Rich 
mond  paper.  I  guess  the  bill  will  pass,  for  Jeff  Davis 
recommended  it,  and  it  seems  that  he  is  dictator,  and  that 
our  Congress  will  pass  any  measure  that  he  recommends. 
Hut  of  one  thing  1  am  certain,  that  is  that  we  will  all  be 
kept  in  the  servece  in  some  way  until  after  another  big- 
fight,  if  no  longer,  for  that  is  the  only  chance  of  gaining 
our  independence,  if  we  do  it  at  all. 

If  Gonm'ess  can  constitutionally  keep  us  ninety  days 
they  can  just  as  easily  keep  us  600  days,  or  if  they  can 
force  the  balance  to  remain  three  years  they  may  just  as 
easily  keep  them  ten  years.  What  is  the  difference? 

It  makes  me  feel  quite  sad  thus  to  have  my  fondest 
hopes  thus  blasted.  South  Carolina  and  all  the  other 
States,!  presume,  furnished  all  the  troops  that  were  called 
for.  and  when  they  can't  do  it,  it  will  be  time  for  us  to 
tuck  our  tails  and  quit. 


74  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

This  infernal  bill  is  called  the  Conscript  Bill.  If  it  passes 
all  patriotism  is  dead,  and  the  Confederacy  will  be  dead 
sooner  or  later.  Watch  passing  events  and  you  will  believe 
me.  I  have  gotten  to  a  point  where  I  hardly  know  what 
to  think.  One  day  I  believe  we  will  thrash  them  like  the 
devil,  and  perhaps  by  the  next  day  I  take  a  pessimistic 
view,  and  conclude  they  will  thrash  us  out.  To-day  1  am 
in  the  latter  mood.  1  am  beginning  to  have  these  little 
moods  quite  often  and  pretty  badly,  and  am  daily  grow 
ing  worse. 

We  have  just  been  furnished  with  eighty  rounds  of  cart- 
riges  to  the  man.  That  looks  a  little  squallish,  don't  it  ? 
But  I  have  become  used  to  it.  I  presume  there  have  been 
ten  thousand  rounds  of  cartriges  thrown  away  since  we 
left  Centreville  because  we  did  not  like  to  carry  them.  We 
would  say  they  got  wet.  These  just  served  us  may  also 
get  wet 

We  have  been  drilling  a  good  deal  to-day. 

Now  let  us  talk  about  something  that  is  nearer  my  heart, 
or  nearer  my  back,  I  should  say.  I  was  engaged  in  patch 
ing  those  dad  rotted  old  breeches  a^ain  the  other  day.  I 
could  not  get  a  patch  that  was  precisely  the  same  color 
as  the  pants,  but  so  near  the  same  thing  that  you  would 
hardly  notice  the  difference,  the  pants  being  black  and  the 
patch  piece  of  an  old  white  blanket.  All  will  be  one  color 
long  before  this  reaches  you.  I  have  two  old  pairs  which  I 
patch  and  wear,  wash  and  tear  time  about.  They  will 
soon  be  gone  forever,  but  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  that  they 
will  go  in  peace,  for  there  is  no  doubt  of  their  hol(e)iness. 
I  have  one  good  pair  of  pants  left,  but  I  am  try  ing  to  save 
them  to  come  home  in,  for  if  you  were  to  see  me  in  my  old 
ones  you  might  mistake  me  for  a  zebra,  leopard,  or  some 
thing  else  equally  outrageous. 

SUNDAY  MORNING,  April  6, 1862.— Nothing  new.  Nothing 
talked  of  but  the  Conscript  Bill. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 

N.  B. :  When  I  write  again  I  don't  think  we'll bein Camp 
Taylor. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  75 

CAMP  NEAR  LOUISA  COURTHOUSE,  LOUISA  Co.,  VA.,  April 
11,  1862.— This  letter  is  on  the  last  piece  of  paper  1  have, 
and  there  may  not  be  roon  for  all  I  have  to  say.  On  Sun 
day  morning  orders  reached  us  to  proceed  to  Fredericks- 
burg,  on  the  Rapahannock  river.  This  is  partly  in  the  di 
rection  from  which  the  army  had  recently  come,  only  a  lit 
tle  farther  south.  We  started  just  at  night  and  marched 
ten  miles  that  night  and  five  miles  next  day,  when  the 
order  was  countermanded,  and  we  turued  back  toward 
Richmond.  We  reached  this  place  yesterday,  after  march 
ing  forty-two  miles.  We  have  just  finished  cooking  two 
days'  rations,  and  I  reckon  we  will  go  on  again,  as  there 
is  no  rest  for  the  wicked.  We  have  been  in  rain  for  two 
days,  which  has  been  freezing  on  our  clothes.  When  or 
where  I  will  finish  this  letter  I  cannot  tell.  1  am  too  busy 
to  write  more. 

CAMP  FOUR  MILES  FROM  RICHMOND,  VA.,  April  14, 1862.— 
We  left  Louisa  Courthouse  and  came  on  here.  Nothing 
important  occurred.  As  we  came  on  here  one  of  my  com 
pany,  named  Bb.  Stinson,  was  accidentally  killed  by  the 
cars  at  Louisa  Courthouse.  We  left  on  Saturday  last  and 
came  eighteen  miles.  On  Sunday  we  made  twenty-one 
miles  and  to-day  twelve  miles  making  fifty-one  miles,  and 
nearly  200  from  CentreviJle.  Just  think  what  a  load  we 
had  to  carry  for  two  hundred  miles,  through  sleet  and 
snow.  Our  whole  division  is  here  to-day. 

My  time  is  out  but  I  cannot  come  home.  Hard  times 
and  hard  fighting  are  still  before  me.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


CAMP  NEAR  YORKTOWN,  VA.,  April  18,  1862.— I  haven't 
the  time  or  room  to  write  much  at  present.  The  Conscript 
Bill  has  passed  in  Congress,  keeping  all  men  in  the  service 
between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  thirty-five  for 
three  years  or  during  the  war,  and  all  in  the  service 
who  are  under  eighteen  or  over  thirty-five  years  of  age  are 
to  remain  in  service  for  ninety  days,  and  will  then  be  dis- 


76  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

charged  (they  say),  as  you  are  already  aware.  I  am  over 
thirty-five  and  will  be  discharged  in  July,  if  a  Yankee  bul- 
lett  don't  discharge  me  sooner.  What  I  have  to  go 
through  in  the  next  ninety  days  the  Lord  only  knows,  if 
I  live  to  go  through  at  all. 

This  Conscript  Act  will  do  away  with  all  the  patriotism 
we  have.  Whenever  men  are  forced  to  fight  they  take  no 
personal  interest  in  it,  knowing  that,  let  them  do  as  well 
as  they  can,  it  will  be  said  they  were  forced,  and  their 
bravery  was  not  from  patriotism.  My  private  opinion  is 
that  our  Confederacy  is  gone  up,  or  will  go  soon,  as  the 
soldiers  themselves  will  take  little  or  no  interest  in  it  here 
after.  A  more  oppressive  law  was  never  enacted  in  the 
most  uncivilized  country  or  by  the  worst  of  despots.  Re 
member  what  I  say,  it  will  eventually  be  our  ruin. 

I  suppose  some  of  the  people  at  home  would  like  to  give 
me  a  free  ride  on  a  rail  if  they  knew  I  said  this.  But  let 
me  tell  you  that  the  time  for  riding  rails  barebacked  is 
about  over  with.  I  am  mad  at  the  action  of  Congress  and 
Jeff  Davis,  and  I  won,t  deny  it. 

We  have  had  some  more  pretty  hard  times  of  late.  We 
left  camp  near  Richmond  night  before  last  about  eight 
o'clock  and  walked  eight  miles  to  the  James  river 
at  Richmond,  and  about  2  o'clock  the  next  morning  went 
on  board  a  steamer  called  the  "West  Point,"  and  came 
down  the  river  about  one  hundred  miles,  landed  and 
marched  eight  miles.  We  are  near  Yorktown  and  there 
is  firing  going  on  there  now.  We  don't  know  at  what 
moment  we  may  be  called  upon  to  fight,  nor  do  we  care 
much. 

A  great  deal  depends  upon  what  is  done  in  the  next 
ninety  days.  I  am  yet  in  tolerable  spirits  (I  wish  some 
spirits  were  in  me),  and  as  stout  as  a  mule.  I  can  walk  fifty 
miles  a  day,  swim  the  James  river  from  bank  to  bank, 
can  jump  up  and  knock  my  heels  together  three  times,  and 
can  out  run  or  jump,  whip  or  throw  any  Yankee  this  side 
of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line,  or  at  least  I  feel  as  though  I 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  77 

could.    So   cheer,  up   my  liyely  lads  in  spite  of  wind  or 
weather.       shall  have  to  stop  for  the  present-. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — When  I  wrote  the  above  I  was  angry  because  the  Conscript 
Bill  had  passed  Congress,  and,  to  speak  plainly,  I  have  not  yet  entirely 
recovered  niy  temper.  I  was  not  the  only  one  who  was  angry,  and  it 
did  kill  patriotism.  j.  W.  R. 


CAMP  NEAR  YORKTOWN,  WAitwicK  Co.,  VA.,  April  24,  18(>2. 
— Nothing  new  or  important.  We  are  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  the  house  where  Washington  had  his  headquar 
ters  previous  to  the  surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis.  I  have 
just  returned  from  the  place.  It  is  a  small,  -old -fashioned 
house,  painted  white.  I  have  a  canteen  of  water  with  me 
gotten  from  the  spring  near  the  house.  The  old  ditches 
are  to  be  seen  here  to-day,  they  are  quite  small  compared 
with  ours  of  to-day.  We  are  stationed  between  the  James 
and  York  rivers,  and  not  very  far  from  either.  The  coun 
try  here  is  very  low,  almost  on  a  level  with  the  river.  I 
dug  a  hole  about  two  feet  deep,  out  of  which  I  get  water. 
It  will  undoubtedly  be  sickly  here  in  summer,  though  I 
don't  suppose  we  will  be  here  then. 

*  We  have  not  been  in  the  trenches  on  guard  as  yet,  but 
will  probably  be  there  soon.  There  are  a  few  men  killed 
about  the  trenches  every  day. 

We  were  to-day  reduced  from  a  regiment  to  a  battalion 
of  five  companies.  A  regiment  has  ten.  My  com  pany  and 
Captain  Anderson's  company  were  consolidated  and 
formed  one  company.  We  elected  D.  L.  Hall,  captain ; 
William  Jones,  first  lieutenant ;  Pinckney  Haynie,  second 
lieutenant,  and  a  Mr.  Kay,  third  lieutenant.  The  captains 
are  Long,  Cauble,  Grirtm  and  Hawthorne.  Charles  Matti- 
sou  is  elected  major  of  the  battalion. 

As  the  mail  is  about  starting  I  will  stop. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


78  History  of  the  fourth  Regiment 

CAMP  NEAR  YORKTOWN,  VA.,  April  30,  1862. — As  there 
is  to  be  an  inspection  of  arms  this  morning  at  10  o'clock, 
I  will  not  have  time  to  write  nmch.  I  have  to  fix  up  for 
the  occasion.  News  is  about  as  it  was  when  I  wrote  last — 
nothing  talked  of  but  fighting.  It  assuredly  will  come 
soon.  We  have  taken  our  turn  in  the  trenches.  None  of 
the  command  killed.  Firing  is  going  on  continually,  but 
ri o  regular  attack  as  yet. 

I  told  you  in  my  last  letter  that  I  had  been  to  Washing 
ton's  headquarters.    Since  that  si  me  I  have  been  to  York- 
town,  on  the  York  river,  one  mile  and  a  half  from  here.    In 
going  there  I  passed  the  spot  where  Lord  Cornwallis  sur 
rendered  to  Washington,  which  ended  the  War  of  Indepen 
dence.    I  wish  McClelland  would  surrender  to  us  and  end 
this  war.    He  undoubtedly  would  have  it  to  do  if  we  had 
a  navy  on  the  river  below  him,  but  as  we  haven't  that  I 
can't  exactly  say  how  it  will  turn  out.    McClelland  has 
vessels  on  the  river,  so  that  if  we  ever  whip  them  here  it 
will  be  quite  an  easy  matter  for  them  to  take  to  their  ves 
sels  and  go  somewhere  else.    I'll  bet  a  Jew's  harp  they'll 
have  it  to  do  before  I  go  home  in  the  middle  of  July  next. 
Yorktown  is  a  very  old  town  and  the  York  river  here  is 
very  wide  because  of  the  tide  water.    I  bought  a  string  of 
fish  at  Yorktown   the  other  day,  the  first  I  have  had  in  lo, 
these  many  days.    The  next  day  I  bought  a  shad,  but  had 
to  give  part  of  it  for  salt  to  salt  the  balance.    Those  who 
can't  turn  can't  spin. 
I  must  now  fix  up  for  inspection  of  arms. 
I  will  write  again  when  I  can.     We  don't  know  what  a 
day  may  bring  forth,  but  the  sooner  we  fight  the  better. 
Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


South  Carolina,  Volunteers.  79 

THIRTY  MILES  BELOW  KICHMOND,  VA.,  May  11,  1862. 

Though  many  of  my  comrades  lay  cold  in  the  field, 

I  am  here  still  able  my  weapon  to  wield ; 

They  were  comrades  of  mine  who  were  slain  in  the  fight, 

While  I  am  still  spared  this  letter  to  write. 

I'll  ne'er  see  them  again  this  side  of  the  grave, 

But  such  is  the  end  of  the  valliant  and  brave. 

I  can  now  see  the  slaughter,  I  can  now  hear  the  sound, 

I  ne'er  can  forget  it  till  I'm  buried  in  the  ground. 

I  can  still  see  them  bleeding,  I  can  still  hear  them  cry, 

But  I  hope  they  are  now  in  the  Mansions  on  High. 

An  unseen  hand  has  carried  me  safely  through  another 
storm  of  balls,  shells  and  other  missiles  of  death  and  de 
struction  and  I  am  here  to-day  not  only  able  to  write,  but 
unhurt  and  untouched  by  an  enemy's  weapon.  Nothing 
less  than  God  could  have  carried  me  safely  through  such 
an  awful  day,  a  day  I  never  can  forget.  I  presume  you 
have  already  heard  from  this  battle,  though  not  from  me. 
I  know  your  aprehension  and  anxiety  concerning  me,  but 
the  army  has  been  marching  ever  since  the  battle.  I  have 
had  no  opportunity  of  writing  until  now,  and  even  if  I  had 
had  an  opportunity  I  could  not  have  written  for  want  of 
paper.  You  see  this  is  written  upon  the  blank  pages  of  a 
memorandum  book. 

I  will  begin  at  the  first  and  tell  you  as  nearly  as  I  can 
how  it  has  been  with  us  since  I  last  wrote  you. 

All  the  troops  about  Yorktown  left  camp  just  after  dark 
on  Saturday  night,  and  marched  loiteringly  all  night,  only 
getting  about  ten  miles  from  camp.  On  Sunday,  the  4th, 
we  traveled  about  twelve  miles.  My  battalion  passed  Wil- 
liamsburg  about  four  miles  and  put  up  for  camp.  The 
enemy  was  close  behind  our  rear  guard  all  day,  and  late 
in  the  evening  there  was  a  considerable  skirmish  with 
them  near  Williamsburg.  About  an  hour  after  dark  we, 
(thit  is  Mattison's  battalion),  were  sent  back  below  Wil 
liamsburg  on  picket  guard,  after  traveling  all  day  and  the 
night  before.  It  was  a  very  dark  night,  cloudy  and  driz 
zling  rain.  We  nearly  ran  into  the  enemy's  lines  before  we 
knew  it.  Three  men  were  put  at  each  post,  with  orders  to 
stay  awake  all  night,  and  for  one  of  us  to  crawl  out  to- 


80  History  oi  the  Fourth  Regiment 

ward  the  enemy's  lines,  and  find  out,  if  possible,  their  posi 
tion.  I  crawled  out  to  a  fence  about  one  hundred  yards  in 
the  rear  of  my  post  two  or  three  times  through  the  night. 
I  could  distinctly  hear  them  talking  while  at  the  fence,  but 
could  see  nothing  on  account  of  the  darkness. 

Thus  we  passed  the  night  of  the  4th  of  May  ;  the  rnin 
descending  slowly.  Just  at  daylight  the  enemy  commenced 
snapping  caps  on  their  guns — to  dry  the  tubes,  I  suppose. 
I  will  admit  that  1  never  felt  so  nervous  in  rny  life.  I  did 
not  feel  half  as  badly  when  the  battle  was  regularly 
opened.  I  never  shall  forget  the  bursting  of  those  caps. 

A  little  after  daylight  they  appeared  in  large  numbers 
and  soon  attacked.  We  held  our  ground  as  long  as  pos 
sible,  giving  them  as  good  as  they  sent,  until  about 
7  o'clock,  when  they  came  in  such  overwhelming  numbers 
as  to  force  us  back  on  our  main  lines,  a  distance  of  about 
six  hundred  yards,  with  the  loss  of  several  of  our  men.  1 
lost  all  my  clothing  and  blankets.  In  falling  back  we  had 
a  slanting  hill  to  go  down  and  when  we  got  to  the  foot  of 
it  our  artillery  opened  fire  on  the  enemy  over  our  heads, 
This  stopped  them  from  following  us.  We  then  took  a  cir 
cuitous  route,  so  as  not  to  be  in  the  way  of  the  artillery, 
finally  got  around  and  went  into  the  fort,  near  the  main 
road  to  Williamsburg.  While  skirmishing  that  morning  we 
left  several  men  killed  or  wounded, who  fell  into  the  enemy's 
hands.  While  Thomas  Stacks  and  another  man  were 
carrying  off  Archibald  Sadler,  who  was  wounded,  the  man 
who  was  helping  was  shot  dead  and  a  Minnie  ball  struck 
Stacks'  canteen  and  tore  it  all  to  pieces.  Stacks  left  Sad 
dler,  and  he  is  now  in  the  enemy's  hands.  He  is  badly 
wounded  A  ball  went  through  my  overcoat,  but  did  not 
graze  the  skin. 

The  'fort  into  which  we  went  is  called  Fort  Richmond. 
We  (Mattison's  battalion)  remained  in  the  fort  amid  a 
storm  of  shell,  cannon  and  musket  balls  until  late  in  the 
evening. 

The  fighting  was  going  on  all  this  time  to  our  right  and 
left  without  a  moment's  intermission.  The  noise  was 
deafening.  The  sight  was  sickening.  A  continual  roaring 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  81 

was  going  on  the  full  length  of  our  line.  Oh,  the  slaughter 
that  was  made  that  day — the  slaughter  of  human  beings, 
brother  against  brother. 

The  fort,  as  I  have  said,  was  on  the  main  road, and  it  was 
here  that  the  heaviest  attack  was  made,  but  the  nine  pieces 
artillery  we  had  in  the  fort  and  the  infantry  backing  it 
kept  the  enemy  at  a  distance  all  day.  Two  or  three  times 
during  the  day  they  attempted  to  charge  and  drive  us 
out  of  the  fort,  but  were  just  as  often  repulsed  with  heavy 
loss.  Late  in  the  evening  a  brigade  or  two  of  our  men 
came  up  from  our  right  wing  and  engaged  the  enemy  di 
rectly  in  front  of  us.  At  this  juncture  of  affairs  our  bat 
talion  was  taken  out  of  the  fort  and  ordered  to  storm  a 
fort  the  enemy  were  in  possession  of,  up  to  our  left.  We 
obeyed  the  order,  and  with  a  corporal's  guard  undertook 
to  storm  afortwell  supplied  with  artillery  and  perhaps  ten 
times  our  number  of  infantry  to  back  them.  We  made  a 
bold  but  unsuccessful  effort  to  drive  them  out,  and  being 
repulsed,  filed  off  into  a  strip  of  woods  somewhat  out  of 
range  of  their  guns.  Just  after  this  a  whole  brigade  of  our 
made  a  charge  on  the  fort,  but  were  driven  back  with 
considerable  loss.  Our  battalion  had  also  lost  several 
men.  One  of  my  company  named  Gantt  Milford  had  his 
leg  shot  off  at  the  thigh  and  died  in  a  few  minutes.  While 
we  were  lying  flat  on  the  ground  a  cannon  ball  struck 
about  two  feet  from  Willis  Dickson,  going  under  the 
ground,  and  raising  him  off  the  ground  a  foot  or  more, 
but  not  hurting  him  seriously.  There  were  a  great  many 
narrow  escapes. 

About  the  time  that  brigade  made  its  unsuccessful 
charge  night  came  on  and  ended  the  slaughter. 

We  had  then  been  marching  or  fighting  or  on  guard  two 
days  and  nights,  and  I  was  completely  broken  down.  It 
had  also  been  raining  the  greater  part  of  the  time.  My 
clothing  was  wet,  my  body  nearly  frozen,  and  in  this  con 
dition  we  were  again  ordered  on  guard.  We  were  ordered 
to  go  into  an  empty  fort  and  remain  there  as  a  guard.  I 
flatly  refused  to  go  in  the  condition  in  which  I  was.  I 
would  have  died  first.  I  left  ranks  and  went  to  a  house  in 


82  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

Williamsburg,  where  I  remained  all  night,  of  which  I  shall 
try  to  give  you  a  description  hereafter. 

I  shall  not  undertake  a  description  of  the  battle.  A  de 
scription  of  one  is  a  description  of  all  big  battles.  I  will 
only  remark  that  the  firing  did  not  cease  for  a  moment 
from  early  dawn  until  dark,  in  fact,  firing  was  going  on  in 
places  until  after  dark.  The  losses  on  both  sides  are 
heavy.  When  the  battle  ended  each  army  occupied  about 
the  same  position  they  had  at  the  beginning.  I  will  give 
you  my  opinion  about  it  hereafter. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — This  man,  Archibald  Sadler,  whom  I  speak  of  as  wounded 
that  morning,  got  well  and  came  through  the  war  safely.  J.  W.  R. 


THIRTY  MILES  BELOW  RICHMOND,  VA.,  May  11,  1862. — 
I  stated  in  iny  last  letter  that  I  refused  to  go  on  guard 
the  night  after  the  fight.  I  plainly  but  modestly  told  my 
officer  that  I  could  not  and  would  not  go.  An  officer, 
whose  name  I  shall  not  mention,  told  me  to  step  out  of 
rank  and  say  nothing  about  it,  and  that  he  would  say 
nothing.  The  darkness  favored  me  in  getting  away  un 
noticed,  so  I  gave  myself  the  word  of  command  "About 
face,''  deployed  off  in  single  file  and  made  my  way  to 
Williamsburg,  about  half  a  mile  away.  I  found  the  peo 
ple  had  vacated  their  houses,  but  badly  as  I  felt,  I  did  not 
take  the  liberty  of  going  into  a  house  without  leave  from 
some  one.  I  finally  found  an  old  negro  in  a  kitchen  cook 
ing  his  supper.  I  said,  "Uncle,  can  I  stay  by  your  fire  to 
night  ?  I'm  very  tired,  wet  and  cold,  and  I  need  a  little 
sleep."  "Yas,  boss,  more'n  welcome.  I's  heah  by  myself, 
sah,  and  will  be  glad  of  a  little  company.  If  you  is  a  In- 
fedret  so'ger,  come  in,  sah.  I  guess  you  knows  how  to 
'have  yo'self,  sah."  I  told  him  that  before  the  war  I  had 
had  some  faint  idea  of  good  behavior,  but  that  under 
existing  circumstances  I  hardly  knew  whether  I  could  be 
have  myself  inside  a  house  or  not,  as  I  had  not  been  in 
one  for  a  good  while,  and  had  not  slept  in  one  for  more 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  83 

than  a  year,  but  that  at  any  rate  I  would  treat  him  civilly. 
"Come  in  boss,  I  knows you's  age'manbyde  way  you  looks 
an'  talks.  'Spec'  you'd  like  sump'n  ter  eat.  Take  a  seat 
by  de  fire,  sah,  an'  I'll  have  it  ready  terrecly.  De  white 
folks  is  all  gone  up  towards  Richmond,  an'  da  tole  me  dat 
if  any  o'  de  Infedret  so'gers  come  here  to  give  'em  any 
thing  they  wanted,  sah." 

I  took  the  good  old  darky  at  his  word,  and  was  soon  at 
a  good  fire  drying  myself  and  eating  a  snack.  Hay  down 
by  the  fire  and  got  as  good  a  night's  sleep  as  I  ever  had. 
In  the  mean  time  five  others  of  rny  command  had  come  in, 
and  they  also  remained  all  night.  Next  morning  about 
sunrise  I  walked  out  into  the  yard,  and  behold,  the  town 
was  full  of  the  enemy,  but  none  of  them  had  quite  gotten 
up  to  where  we  were.  Our  army  was  gone.  I  called  up 
the  other  men  and  hastily  evacuated  Williamsburg.  In 
passing  the  suburbs  of  the  town  we  found  a  large  quan 
tity  of  clothing  and  blankets  some  of  our  men  had  left.  I 
got  as  much  as  I  wanted  and  went  my  way  rejoicing.  I 
had  returned  the  things  I  borrowed  from  the  enemy  on  th^ 
21st  of  July  last,  but  now  I  am  about  as  well  off  as  before 
the  fight.  Of  all  the  mud  I  ever  saw  we  trudged  through 
it  that  morning.  My  overcoat  draggled  in  it.  It  was  about 
the  consistency  of  fritter  batter,  and  knee  deep.  There  was 
no  way  of  getting  around  it.  After  going  about  too  miles 
we  overtook  the  battalion,  acting  as  rear  guard  as  usual. 
We  joined  them  and  waded  on.  We  traveled  all  day  and 
until  some  time  after  night.  That  day  Captain  Hall  got 
sick  and  had  to  stop.  I  stayed  with  him  until  a  wagon 
happened  along,  and  I  got  him  into  it.  This  wagon  had 
been  delayed  in  some  way.  Our  wagons  were  in  front. 

After  we  had  camped  that  night  we  drew  some  flour,  but 
had  no  way  of  making  up  dough  or  baking  it.  I  made 
up  some  of  it  on  my  oil  cloth  and  baked  it  in  a  tin  plate  I 
always  carry  with  me.  I  put  it  up  before  the  fire  Johnny- 
cake  fashion,  and  behold,  it  was  good.  Most  of  the  men 
were  so  worn  out  they  did  not  attempt  to  cook,  but  lay 
down  and  went  to  sleep.  Just  after  I  lay  down  orders 
came  to  go  to  the  ordnance  wagon,  about  three  hundred 


84  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

yards  off,  and  draw  cartridges,  as  the  enemy  were  fast  ap 
proaching.  Not  a  man  of  my  company  could  be  stirred. 
I  went  by  myself  and  got  a  hundred  pound  box  of  cart 
ridges  for  my  company.  I  might  as  well  have  brought 
acorns  to  them  then.  It  was  now  about  two  o'clock.  I 
then  told  some  of  the  boys  not  to  disturb  me  until  I  woke 
of  my  ow^n  accord,  orders  or  no  orders,  unless  the  enemy 
were  upon  us,  lay  down  and  went  to  sleep.  About  8  o'clock 
next  morning  I  awoke  refreshed,  and  in  a  short  time  re 
sumed  the  inarch,  the  enemy  following  close  in  our  rear. 
Don't  be  alarmed.  Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


CAMP  TYLER,  VA.,  May  14, 1862 —When  I  wrote  my  last 
letter,  on  the  llth,  we  were  on  the  march.  We  continued 
inarching  day  and  night  until  we  reached  this  place.  We 
have  had  a  dreadful  time  of  it.  We  are  near  the  Chick  a- 
hominy  river,  and  our  camp  is  in  sight  of  President  Tyler's 
home.  Tyler  died  in  Richmond  since  I  came  to  Virginia. 
We  are  not  very  far  from  Jamestown,  the  oldest  town  in 
the  United  States  (ununited  at  present).  I  am  anxious  to 
see  the  place  and  perhaps  may  see  it  as  we  go  on  to  Rich 
mond,  for  I  fully  believe  that  is  our  objective  point,  or  in 
the  neighborhood  of  it.  It  was  on  this  little  river  (the 
Chickahominy),  that  the  Indian  girl,  Pocahontas,  saved 
the  life  of  Captain  Smith,  before  this  country  was  settled. 
Pocahontas  afterwards  married  Captain  Rolf,  an  English 
man,  and  visited  England  with  him.  But  these  are  not 
the  times  I  am  writing  about,  or  at  least  I  should  not  be. 

I  believe  that  in  my  statement  of  the  fight  at  Williams- 
burg  I  failed  to  state  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
enemy  were  making  their  way  up  the  James  and  York 
rivers  so  as  to  cut  us  off  from  Richmond,  but  some  of  our 
forces  at  West  Point  and  at  some  point  on  the  James  river, 
the  name  of  which  I  have  not  learned,  were  keeping  them 
back,  and  it  was  fortunate  for  us  that  they  did  so,  for  it 
would  have  been  "farewell  landlord,  farewell  Jerry"  with  us 
if  they  had  landed.  Of  course  we  will  have  more  fighting 
to  do,  and  that  soon,  but  I  am  getting  like  a  man  I  once 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  85 


knew  in  Edgefield,  when  speaking  of  the  torments  of  the 
wicked  after  death.  He  was  of  opinion  that  they  would 
get  so  used  to  the  discomforts  of  their  abode  that  they 
would  cease  to  mind  it.  I  have  gotten  so  used  to  fighting 
that  I  do  not  mind  it  much. 

I  bought  three  pounds  of  manufactured  tobacco  last 
night,  the  best  I  ever  saw.  I  am  chewing  it  now.  It  rained 
all  night  last  night.  I  stuck  up  some  sticks,  put  up  my  oil 
cloth  and  kept  myself  dry.  I  let  Rufus  McLees  stay  with 
me.  He  is  sick. 

I  have  just  this  moment  learned  that  the  enemy  has 
driven  in  our  pickets.  We  shall  have  to  fight  or  "skee- 
dadle."  If  we  fight  I  will  write  when  it  is  over,  if  living; 
should  we  do  the  other  thing  will  drop  you  a  line  when  we 
halt.  I  prefer  the  skeedadling  if  I  could  have  it  my  way. 

I  hear  heavy  firing  down  toward  West  Point.  The  doc 
trine  of  Hardshellism  teaches  that  what  is  to  be  will  be. 
Perhaps  there  is  truth  in  predestination. 

I  am  almost  bomb  proof,  but  if  is  foreordained  that  I 
shall  die  to-day,  tell  your  people  that  Jesse  died  at  his 
post. 

Nothing  more  until  McClelland  comes.  Firing  continues. 
Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


CAMP  FIVE  MILES  BELOW  RICHMOND,  VA.,        ) 
Tuesday,  May  20,  1862.    2  p.  M.    j 

I  told  you  in  my  last  letter  we  would  either  fight 
or  skeedadle,  as  the  enemy  had  driven  in  our  pickets.  Sure 
enough,  on  the  next  morning,  the  15th,  we  skipped,  and 
crossed  the  Chickahominy  river,  not  far,  it  is  said,  from 
the  spot  where  Pocahontas  performed  her  act  of  heroism 
over  two  hundred  years  ago.  We  came  on  some  eight  or 
ten  miles,  and  camped  in  the  woods  during  a  hard  rain. 

The  next  morning  before  daylight  we  resumed  the  march. 
We  had  just  drawn  some  flour,  and  most  of  us  had  made 
dough,  indulging  in  the  anticipation  of  a  good  breakfast. 
I  had  saved  a  little  coffee  for  a  rainy  day,  and  this  was  a 
day  that  answered  that  description.  We  had  eaten 


86  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

nothing  the  day  before  and  the  rain  kept  us  from  cooking 
anything  that  night.  Jnst  about  the  time  our  dough 
was  ready  to  cook  orders  came  for  us  to  march,  as  the 
enemy  were  nearer  to  us  than  we  wished  them  to  be.  That 
day  we  passed  Fort  Holly,  or  Holland,  and  about  10 
o'clock  halted  in  an  old  field,  and  then  I  baked  my  dough, 
which  I  had  brought  with  me.  Most  of  the  boys  had 
thrown  theirs  away.  I  used  my  tin  plate  again,  made 
some  coffee  arid  fared  sumptuously,  eating  like  a  half- 
starved  Bengal  tiger.  We  came  on  that  day  to  Laurel 
church.  Nothing  worthy  of  note  occurred  while  there,  ex 
cept  that  one  of  our  boys  was  made  to  mark  time  on  the 
steps  of  the  church  for  a  turn  of  two  hours  for  shooting  at 
a  squirrel  (which  he  missed),  it  being  against  orders  to 
fire  a  gun  at  that  time.  It  was  ludicrous  to  see  him  at  it, 
but  I  felt  truly  sorry  for  him. 

We  left  Laurel  church  and  came  to  this  place,  a  distance 
o?  one  and  a  half  miles.  We  are  not  far  from  Drurey's  bluff, 
on  the  James  river,  and  but  a  short  distance  from  Rich 
mond.  There  is  trouble  ahead  of  us,  and  we  can't  tell 
what  a  day  may  bring  forth.  Try  to  keep  in  good  spirits 
and  I  will  do  the  same.  Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 


RICHMOND,  VA.,  May  29, 1862.— We  left  camp  near  Dru- 
ley's  bluff  on  the  27th  and  came  on  this  place.  We  are  now 
almost  in  the  city  of  Richmond  on  the  side  next  to  the 
York  river.  A  fight  was  looked  for  yesterday,  but  it  has 
not  come  off  as  yet,  though  hourly  expected.  There  is 
heavy  skirmishing  going  on  nearly  all  the  time  in  plain 
hearing  of  me.  The  enemy  is  said  to  be  in  possession  of 
Hanover  Station,  a  few  miles  above  here.  A  genoral  en 
gagement,  such  as  has  never  been  in  modern  times  is  im 
minent.  Both  armies  are  very  large,  the  enemy's  forces  be 
ing  the  largest.  But  we  have  great  confidence  in  our 
generals,  and  in  ourselves,  too.  I  think  we  will  most  as 
suredly  drive  them  back,  but  it  will  cost  us  something. 
More  men  will  be  engaged  in  this  battle,  should  it  open, 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  87 

than  has  ever  been  before  in  modern  warfare,  the  great 
armies  of  Napoleon  not  except ed.  A  battle  with  ten  or 
twenty  thousand  men  engaged  is  called  a  skirmish.  We 
read  and  boast  of  the  great  battles  fought  by  Washington 
and  others.  Washington  never  had  more  than  fifteen  or 
twenty  thousand  men  with  him  at  any  onetime,  and  never 
fought  as  big  a  battle  as  that  of  Williamsburg,  the  other 
day,  and  that  was  a  skirmish  compared  to  the  one  now 
pending. 

The  armies  will  be  counted  by  hundreds  of  thousands.  1 
apprehend  that  before  this  letter  ends  there  will  be  more 
men  killed  than  Washington  or  Lord  Cornwallis  had  in 
their  combined  armies. 

I  see  but  little  in  the  papers  about  our  fight  at  Williams- 
burg.  I  suppose  the  reason  is  that  we  fell  back  from  our 
position.  Now,  the  reason  for  our  doing  so  is  very  plain 
to  me.  I  think  it  was  not  because  we  were  worsted  in  the 
fight,  but  that  the  enemy  were  trying  to  force  their  way  up 
the  rivers  to  cut  us  off  from  Richmond.  And  again,  I  be 
lieve  our  generals  were  falling  back  on  Richmond  in  order 
to  shorten  our  lines.  A  good  piece  of  generalship  it  was, 
too,  though  I  have  no  doubt  it  will  be  currently  reported 
we  were  whipped.  I  am  not  whipped  yet.  I  think  we'll 
change  this  tune  if  the  engagement  takes  place.  The 
enemy  cannot  get  above  us  on  the  river.  To  do  so  they 
will  be  obliged  to  go  by  land,  and  if  they  do  that  they  will 
encounter  a  Stonewall  they  cannot  scale.  It  is  Stonewall 
Jackson,  who  is  harder  to  manage  than  granite  rock. 

I  forgot  to  mention  that  we  drove  the  enemy  back  from 
Drurey's  Bluff,  badly  damaged,  as  well  as  from  WTest 
Point. 

I  have  just  gotten  information  that  Stonewall  Jackson 
has  administered  another  flogging  to  the  enemy.  Hurrah 
for  Jackson  !  And  report  says  that  he  took  four  thous- 
prisoners.  Another  report  says  twenty-eight  hundred.  I 
split  the  difference  and  say  three  thousand,  and  risk 
stretching  my  blanket,  but  I  suppose  he  did  take  one  full 
regiment  of  infantry,  which  was  from  Maryland,  and  a 
regiment  of  cavaLiy  from— (confound  the  name  of  the 


88  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

place,  I  am  so  forgetful) — anyhow,  they  are  from  Europe. 
I  know  this  much  is  true,  for  they  have  just  been  brought 
to  Richmond  as  prisoners  of  war.  The  latest  news  1  heard 
from  Jackson  was  that  he  was  playing  the  devil  with  the 
enemy  at  Harper's  Ferry  It  is  thought  Jackson  will  see 
Washington  City  by  the  time  Lincoln  sees  Richmond,  Va. 
It  is  also  said  that  Jackson  has  possession  of  a  portion  of 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroad. 

No  more  news  at  present,  but  there  will  undoubtedly  be 
some  for  me  or  some  one  else  to  tell  before  long.  Keep 
cool.  Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — In  all  of  my  letters  I  gave  the  names  of  our  neighbors,  stat- 
ingwho  were  well,  who  sick,  etc.  Amongthem  were  Bird  Philips,  James 
and  Willis  Dickinson,  E.  Herring,  Thomas  Stacks,  Samuel  Couch,  Jim 
Lofton,  R.  Jefferson,  S.  and  \V.  Harlan,  Sandy  Earle,  Matthew  Parker, 
Tyler  Mochat,  William  Jones,  D.  L.  Hall  and  others.  J.  W.  R. 


CAMP  NEAR  RICHMOND,  VA.,  June  2,  1862. 

The  sulphur  and  smoke  o'ershadowed  the  earth, 

And  the  cannon  they  did  rattle, 
And  many  brave  men  lie  cold  in  the  earth, 

Who  were  slain  in  Seven  Pines  battle. 

Though  the  earth  has  again  trembled  with  the  boom  of 
cannon  and  the  atmosphere  been  darkened  by  dust  and 
smoke,  I  am  still  here,  and,  strange  to  say,  am  unhurt. 

To  begin  at  the  first,  i  will  say  that  on  the  night  of  the 
30th  of  May  a  tremendous  rain  fell,  and  it  was  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  the  Chickahominy  would  be  very  much 
swollen,  and  as  it  was  understood  that  a  division  or  two 
of  the  enemy  were  on  this  side  of  the  river,  it  was  also  very 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  could  not  recross  to  the 
other  side  in  the  swollen  condition  of  the  stream.  Neither 
was  it  probable  that  they  could  be  reinforced  from  the 
other  side.  This,  I  believe,  is  the  reason  the  attack  was 
made  by  General  Johnson.  (This,  you  understand,  is 
merely  a  supposition,  but  I  think  it  very  reasonable.)  Let 
the  causes  have  been  what  they  may,  the  attack  was  made, 
the  results  of  which  I  will  endeavor  to  describe. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  89 

As  I  have  said,  a  tremendous  rain  fell  on  the  night  of  the 
30th,  and  we  found  it  impossible  to  cook  anything  for  sup 
per.  I  can  say  for  my  part  that  I  was  wolfishly  hungry 
in  consequence.  Indeed,  I  could  not  sleep  comfortably  with 
an  empty  stomach,  and  got  up  about  two  o'clock,  made  a 
fire  and  put  some  peas  on  to  cook.  The  peas  were  so 
black  they  would  have  made  good  ink.  About  the  time 
they  were  pretty  well  done  I  heard  the  familiar  sound  of 
the  long  role  beating  at  General  Longstreet's  headquar 
ters,  and  in  a  few  minutes  it  was  beating  at  the  headquar 
ters  of  the  different  brigades  and  regiments.  I  knew  what 
was  up.  I  called  some  of  the  boys  and  told  them  what 
was  going  on.  Just  then  that  awful,  solemn  role  that  has 
called  so  many  of  them  to  gory  beds,  took  up  the  peal  and 
thundered  in  midnight  gloom  from  our  own  camp.  The 
sound  of  galoping  hoofs  resounded  on  all  sides  as  couriers 
dashed  away  with  orders  to  the  different  headquarters.  I 
felt  a  little  lonesome  when  the  long  role  beat  from  our 
headquarters.  In  a  short  time  all  hands  and  the  cook 
(myself,  on  this  occasion),  were  up  and  getting  on  equip 
ments.  The  order  came  to  be  ready  to  march  at  day 
break. 

Everything  was  in  confusion  and  uproar,  but  notwith 
standing  this  I  ate  my  peas  and  felt  ready  for  anything. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  31st  of  May  all  was  in  readi 
ness.  The  wagons  were  brought  and  orders  given  that 
one  man  from  each  company  should  be  detailed 
to  remain  and  see  that  everything  was  loaded. 
The  wagons  were  to  remain  until  further  orders.  I  was 
detailed  from  my  company.  I  saw  that  everything  was 
loaded.  As  I  have  said  the  wagons  were  to  remain  at 
camp,  for  no  one  knew  how  the  battle  would  end.  I 
thought  I  did  but  I  did  not.  So  my  command  took  up 
the  line  of  march  and  left  me  in  camp. 

After  the  loading  was  finished,  being  under  no  orders, 
we  would  have  been  excusbble  in  remaining,  but  not  care- 
ing  to  stay  out  of  a  fight  simply  because  I  could  do  so,  I 
determined  to  go  on  and  risk  my  chances  with  the  bal 
ance.  Accordingly,  about  8  o'clock,  Wheeler  Gilmore  (who 


90  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

was  detailed  from  another  company),  and  myself  started 
alone  to  overtake  our  command.  We  came  up  with  our 
battalion  in  an  old  field,  where  they  were  leaving  all  the 
baggage  they  had  brought  with  them,  preparatory  to 
going  into  action.  The  firing  had  already  commenced  but 
a  few  hundred  yards  in  our  front.  We  joined  our  deci 
mated  company,  and  went  on  to  receive  at  the  very  first 
the  deadliest  fire  any  company  of  men  ever  received. 

Remember  hereafter  that  when  I  speak  of  our  command 
I  mean  Mattison's  battalion,  which  is  now  a  mere  corpo 
ral's  guard. 

We  marched  through  a  pine  thicket,  along  a  big  road, 
and  then  through  an  old  field,  and  right  in  front  of  us  was 
a  battery  of  nine  cannon,  supported  by  a  considerable 
force  of  infantry.  They  were  but  a  few  hundred  yards  in 
advance  of  us,  and  immediately  opened  fire.  Our  numbers 
being  so  small  we  made  a  flank  movement  to  our  left,  mak 
ing  for  a  thick  piece  of  woods  that  was  but  a  short  dis 
tance  away,  as  we  thought  we  would  be  sheltered  from  the 
storm  of  ball  and  shell  which  played  havoc  in  our  ranks. 

We  were  every  moment  expecting  reinforcements.  I 
knew  they  would  come  to  our  assistance  soon,  for  I  had 
passed  them  on  the  road. 

When  we  had  gotten  within  thirty  yards  of  the  woods  a 
large  force  of  the  enemy,  who  were  hidden  in  the  under 
brush,  raised  up  as  though  springing  out  of  the  ground, 
and  poured  among  us  the  most  destructive  fire  we  have 
yet  experienced.  Of  my  own  company  of  ten  or  twelve 
men  George  Driver  was  shot  in  the  mouth  and  killed  ;  Judd 
McLees,  killed,  shot  in  the  head  ;  Wheeler  Gilmore mortally 
wounded,  besides  several  others  more  or  less  injured. 
Elijah  Herring  was  slightly  wounded  and  fatally  scared. 
Of  the  battalion  Major  Mattison  was  wounded,  Captain 
Griffin  killed,  Adjutants.  S.  Crittendon  wounded,  both  the 
Harlans  wounded,  and  so  many  others  killed  and 
wounded  that  I  cannot  at  present  give  their  names. 

All  this  was  done  in  less  than  ten  minutes.  When 
Major  Mattison  fell  some  one  called  out  "Retreat."  My 
Captain,  D.  L.  Hall,  and  about  ten  others  of  my  company 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  91 

were  all  there  were  left  of  us.  The  other  companies  of  the 
battalion,  what  was  left  of  them,  remained,  and  we  did 
what  shooting  we  could  while  laying  on  the  ground 
amongst  our  dead  and  wounded  comrades. 

It  was  but  a  short  time  before  the  expected  reinforce 
ment  joined  us,  when  we  drove  the  enemy  out  of  the  woods 
with  considerable  loss  on  their  side. 

By  this  side  the  fighting  became  hot  on  both  sides  and 
In  the  centre,  Longstreet's  position,  as  usual. 

I  cannot  convey  an  idea  of  the  terrors  of  the  next  few 
hours.  As  I  said  at  the  beginning  of  this  letter, 


The  sulphur  and  smoke  o'ershadowed  the  earth, 
And  the  cannon  they  did  rattle. 


We  in  the  centre  kept  driving  the  enemy  back  slowly 
until  they  got  to  their  camp,  where  they  made  a  bold 
stand,  but  they  could  not  stand  the  Southern  charge. 
They  finally  gave  way  and  left  all  their  camp  equipage  be 
hind  them.  We  followed  them  about  a  mile  further,  when 
night  came  on  and  the  slaughter  ceased.  We  got  a  good 
many  cannon  and  small  arms  and  a  great  many  other 
things  unnecessary  to  mention.  We  took  between  five 
hundred  and  one  thousand  prisoners,  I  am  not  certain  of 
the  exact  number. 

Honesty  compels  me  to  say  that  the  wings  of  the  Fed 
eral  army  did  not  give  back  as  did  the  centre,  and  that 
threw  us  into  a  crescent  or  horse  shoe  position,  being  in 
advance  of  both  wings  of  the  Federal  army,  and  on  that 
account  alone.  We  came  back  that  night  to  where  the 
fight  commenced. 

There  was  some  firing  on  the  Federal  wings  that  night 
and  a  few  shots  next  morning,  but  the  great  fight  of 
Seven  Pines  was  ended. 

GeneralJohnston  is  badly  wounded.  I  don't  know  as 
yet  who  will  succeed  him,  but  it  is  said  that  it  will  be  R.  E. 
Lee,  of  Virginia.  I  know  but  little  about  him.  They  say 
he  is  a  good  general,  but  I  doubt  his  being  better  than 
Johnston  or  Longstreet. 


92  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment, 

This  is  the  first  fight  we  have  had  that  our  side  made 
the  attack,  and  if  this  is  a  victory  1  never  want  to  be  in 
a  battle  that  is  not  a  victory. 

We  got  a  great  many  provisions  of  all  kinds  in  their 
camps — bacon,  flour,  sugar,  coffee  (already  ground  and 
sweetened,  and  almost  every  other  kind  of  dainty,  besides 
several  barrels  of  whiskey,  one  of  which  had  a  bullet  hole 
in  it,  from  which  several  of  the  men  filled  their  canteens. 
My  old  friend  J.  J.  Pitts,  when  he  had  gotten  himself  and 
his  canteen  both  full,  thought  himself  as  rich  as  John 
Jacob  Astor. 

Among  other  things  I  got,  and  by  the  way,  not  before  I 
needed  it,  was  a  hat,  new  for  me,  but  somewhat  frazzled 
by  its  original  owner.  It  fit  me  to  a  fraction. 

Remember  that,  although  this  was  a  terrible  fight,  yet 
it  is  by  no  means  the  great,  decisive  battle  we  have  been 
expecting.  It  is  yet  to  come  and  assuredly  will  take  place. 
Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  TEID. 

NOTE. — My  friend  Wheeler  Gilmore,  who  went  with  me  that  morn 
ing,  was  mortally  wounded  at  the  beginning  of  the  fight  and  died  in  a 
few  days.  J.  W.  R. 


NEAR  RICHMOND,  VA.,  June  3,  1862.— I  have  only  time 
to  write  a  few  hurried  lines.  We  are  ordered  to  fix  up  to 
move.  This  thing  of  fixing  up  has  pretty  well  played 
out  with  us,  as  we  have  gotten  to  a  point  where  we  have 
nothing  left  to  fix.  I  can  be  in  readiness  at  any  time  in 
five  minutes.  After  receiving  the  order  we  may  not  go 
to-day,  but  if  we  don't  it  is  quite  evident  we  will  go  soon. 
We  won't  go  very  far,  for  I  don't  think  we  will  evacuate 
Richmond  and  go  farther  south.  We  can't  go  far  the 
other  way,  for  there  is  a  crowd  out  there  that  won't  let  us 
pass  without  the  countersign.  (I  mean  McClelland  and  his 
army.)  We  may  not  go  far,  but  in  all  probability  it  will 
be  a  rough  road  to  travel. 

I  understand  the  enemy  is  landing  below  here  in  large 
numbers.  Hard  times  ahead  of  us. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  93 

Mr.  J.  J.  Land  is  at  Kichmond  sick.  He  has  sent  for 
me  but  I  cannot  get  off. 

I  will  now  have  to  stop  writing  and  do  what  little  tixing 
I  have  to  do  and  be  ready  for  the  word.  I  will  write  a 
line  as  often  as  I  can.  I  know  you  feel  anxious  about  me 
at  these  trying  times.  I  have  still  some  cheerfulness,  not 
withstanding  the  threatening  storm.  This  storm  will  surely 
come,  and  it  will  be  accompanied  by  heavy  thunder.  Try 
to  be  cheerful.  Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


CAMP  NEAR  RICHMOND,  VA.,  June  7, 1862. — Well  know 
ing  your  anxiety  for  me,  I  will  drop  you  a  line  as  often  as 
I  have  the  opportunity.  Though  surrounded  by  war,  pes 
tilence  and  dangers  seen  and  unseen  I  am  still  untouched 
and  enjoying  good  health.  How  thankful  I  feel  for  the 
almost  miraculous  escape  of  all  these  threatening  dangers. 

As  stated  in  my  letter  of  the  3d,  our  army  expected  to 
move  and  this  has  been  done.  We  are  near  Seven  Pines 
battlefield,  about  three  miles  from  Richmond.  It  has  been 
raining  almost  ever  since  our  coming,  and  we  had  to  take 
it  as  it  came,  having  no  other  clothing  except  that  on  our 
backs.  Bird  Phillips  brought  our  blankets  in  a  wagon  from 
the  old  camp.  We  are  waiting  for  the  ball  to  open.  The 
fight  is  certainly  coming  on,  and  it  is  the  opinion  both  of 
my  superiors  and  inferiors  that  it  will  take  at  least  three 
days  to  decide  it,  and  if  this  should  be  so  I  almost  envy 
the  ticklish  position  occupied  on  one  occasion  by  Jonah  of 
old. 

To  make  it  worse  for  us  there  is  a  great  deal  of  sickness 
in  our  army,  and  soldiers  are  dying  at  the  hospital  almost 
daily.  A  man  of  my  company,  Rufus  McLees,  died  at 
Richmond  on  last  Wednesday.  He  is  the  man  I  took 
under  my  oilcloth  one  rainy  night  during  the  march  from 
Yorktown.  His  brother  was  killed  at  Seven  Pines  the 
other  day.  They  were  good  boys,  the  eons  of  Jeff  McLees, 
and  well  liked  in  the  company. 

Five  of  my  company  were  carried  to  the  hospital  yestei 


94  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

day,  namely,  Warren  McGee,  J.  J.  Pitts,  John  Gordon, 
Jim  Lofton  and  Elijah  Herring.  Herring  says  a  cannon 
ball  struck  his  musket  at  Seven  Pines,  and  gave  him  ajar 
he  has  not  yet  recovered  from.  If  a  cannon  ball  had 
struck  his  gnn  it  would  have  jarred  his  soul  out  of  his 
body. 

Mr.   Land   and   Wheeler  Gilmore  send  for  me  to  go  to 
Richmond.  I  cannot  go.   John  McClin ton  is  with  Gilmore. 

No  more  news  at  present.    Yours  as  ever, 

J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — McClinton  remained  with  Gilmore  until  his  death. 


CAMP  NEAR  RICHMOND,  YA.,  Sunday,  June  15, 1862.— All 
cry  and  no  wool,  all  talk  and  no  fight.  It  really  seems  to 
me  that  McClelland  as  well  as  some  of  our  own  generals 
had  better  handle  the  spade  than  the  sword.  Both  sides 
are  ditching  every  day.  I  think  if  we  had  fewer  ditches 
and  more  Stonewalls  it  would  be  better  for  us,  though  I'd 
rather  dig  ditches  than  to  fight  in  them.  I  don't  see  the 
sense  of  piling  up  earth  to  keep  us  apart.  If  we  don't 
get  at  each  other  sometime,  when  will  the  war  end  ?  My 
plan  would  be  to  quit  ditching  and  go  to  fighting. 

There  will  be  no  pleasure  here  or  at  home  until  the  war 
closes.  More  than  this,  the  longer  it  lasts  the  larger  the 
war  debt  will  be,  the  less  able  and  the  fewer  of  us  there  will 
be  to  pay  it. 

The  enemy  is  down  in  the  river  swamps,  but  I  don't 
think  they  will  remain  there  long  on  account  of  sickness. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  it  in  both  armies.  We  have,  it  is 
said,  about  thirty  thousand  men  at  the  various  hospitals. 
About  one-third  of  my  company  is  sick.  This  is  the  condi 
tion  of  the  other  companies,  indeed,  or  the  entire  army. 
Can  I  be  blamed  for  wanting  to  fight  and  end  the  matter? 

I  am  quite  well  but  for  the  fact  that  my  shoe  has  rubbed 
by  heel  until  it  is  blistered  and  I  have  to  wear  a  slipshod. 
My  heel  has  risen  and  is  quite  sore.  I  am  excused  from 
duty  on  account  of  it,  but  if  a  fight  comes  up  I  will  go  into 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  95 

it  and  let  my  heels  take  care  of  themselves— unless  it  turns 
out  that  my  heels  have  to  take  care  of  me. 

MONDAY  MORNING,  June  16.— Nothing  very  important. 
Day  before  yesterday  evening-  General  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  of 
the  cavalry,  made  a  reconnoitre  in  the  rear  of  the  enemy. 
He  took  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners  and  about 
two  hundred  horses  and  mules  and  a  great  many  other 
things,  besides  burning  a  train  of  three  hundred  wagons. 
It  is  not  known  how  many  of  the  enemy  were  killed,  but 
his  own  loss  is  enormous,  it  being  one  man  killed  and  two 
wounded.  The  enemy  has  had  Stuart  surrounded  three 
times,  but  he  has  always  cut  his  way  out. 

We  were  drawn  out  in  line  of  battle  yesterday,  stacked 
arms  and  were  told  to  hold  ourselves  in  readiness  at  a 
moment's  warning.  That  order  is  still  in  force.  We  had 
another  heavy  rain  yesterday,  and  that  may  stop  active 
operations  for  a  day  or  two. 

I  hear  considerable  firing  down  toward  the  Chickahom- 
iny.  Perhaps  it  is  only  a  picket  fight,  as  they  are  quite 
common. 

I  don't  %  apprehend  a  general  engagement  at  present. 
There  is  not  enough  stir  going  on  for  that.  I  can  tell 
pretty  well  when  a  battle  is  brewing;  by  the  stir  that  is 
made.  There  will  be  none  to-day. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


CAMP  NEAR  RICHMOND,  VA.,  June  22,  1862.— No  very 
alarming  news.  There  is  more  or  less  firing  going  on  all 
the  time  along  the  line.  There  is  not  a  great  deal  of  dam 
age  done,  however. 

Day  before  yesterday  a  heavy  firing  was  ^oing  on  for 
several  hours  over  toward  Seven  Pines.  Orders  were  ex 
pected  every  moment  for  us  to  march,  but  no  orders  came. 
I  asked  leave  of  my  officers  to  go  and  see  what  it  meant. 
They  gave  me  permission  to  go,  and  a  caution  to  look  out 
for  No.  1.  In  fact,  the  officers  were  as  anxious  to  know 
what  was  going  on  as  I  was. 


96  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

I  went  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  and  met  a  Colonel 
— Somebody — wounded.  I  asked  him  if  he  thought  a  gen 
eral  engagement  was  likely  to  come  on.  He  said,  "No  ;  it 
is  only  a  picket  fight,  but  I  am  painfully  wounded."  I 
went  a  little  further,  but  saw  so  many  being  carried  off 
wounded  that  I  concluded  it  best  to  return  to  the  com 
mand,  where  I  described  what  I  had  seen  and  heard.  All 
were  interested  and  crowded  around  me,  evidently  appre 
ciating  what  I  had  done. 

It  was  curious  to  see  that  the  lame  walked,  and  the  sick 
were  suddenly  and  miraculously  made  well  as  soon  as  I 
reported  it  not  a  general  engagement.  It  is  well  known 
that  heavy  firing  will  create  alarming  symptoms  in  dysen 
tery  and  other  complaints. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  current 
prices  here  for  some  articles  in  general  use.  Coffee  is  |2 
per  pound ;  sugar,  50  cents  ;  molases,  per  quart,  $1 ; 
chickens  (the  size  of  a  robin),  |1  apiece  ;  eggs,  per  dozen, 
$1 ;  butter  (some  of  it  old  enough  to  stand  alone  for  its 
rights),  $1.25  ;  little  fruit  pies  the  size  of  the  palm  of  my 
hand,  25  cents.  I  could  at  this  moment  eat  $5  worth  of 
them.  If  J.  J.  Astor  had  to  feed  me  on  these  dainties  for 
twelve  months  at  the  present  price,  he  would  be  bankrupt. 

Yesterday  I  bought  a  loaf  of  bread  for  twenty-five  cents, 
but  it  was  hollow,  and,  though  as  big  as  my  head,  would 
not  have  weighed  two  ounces.  I  gave  part  of  it  to  John 
McClinton  and  Warren  McGee,  because  they  were  sick. 

Then  Tom came  to  me  with  a  long  face  and  said  : 

"Mr.  Reid,  I  feel  dreadful  bad  to-day,  and  I  wish,  if  you 
please,  you  would  give  me  a  piece  of  that  'pone.'  "  He 
really  looked  as  though  he  had  come  from  the  valley  and 
shadows  of  death.  I  said,  "Torn,  you  old  hog,  go  to  my 
haversack  and  get  it  all.  He  accordingly  went  and 
took  about  half.  There  was  nothing  the  matter  with  him, 
though  he  can  look  like  a  ghost  whenever  he  chooses. 

Mrs.  Land  sent  me  word  she  would  kill  a  goat  when  Joe 
and  I  got  home,  and  as  Joe  can't  come  she  can  kill  half  of 
one  for  me  and  the  other  half  when  Joe  does  come. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  97 

MONDAY  MORNING,  June  23d. — A  good  deal  of  stirring 
this  morning.  Before  this  reaches  you  the  ball  may  be 
opened.  If  so,  I  will  send  you  a  line  as  often  as  1  have 
the  opportunity.  I  feel  confident  from  personal  observa 
tion  that  the  decisive  moment  has  arrived.  In  a  few  days 
how  many  of  us  may  be  in  eternity  who  are  alive  and  well 
to-day.  Who  will  it  be?  God  alone  knows.  May  the  God 
of  Abraham  and  Isaac,  the  God  of  Jacob  and  of  all  man 
kind,  be  with  you  and  with  us  all.  Take  anything  that 
happens  as  easily  as  you  can. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  KEID. 


ON  A  HALT,  NEAR  RICHMOND,  VA.,  June  26, 1862.— In  my 
last  letter  I  said  that  a  battle  was  coming  on.  This  morn 
ing  at  an  early  hour  our  entire  army  was  in  motion,  some 
going  in  one  direction,  some  in  another.  Longetreet's  di 
vision,  to  which  I  belong,  marched  some  six  or  seven  miles, 
toward  the  upper  part  of  Richmond,  and  halted  about 
two  miles  from  the  city,  where  it  still  remains,  awaiting 
orders. 

It  is  about  a  mile  to  the  Chickahominy,  and  the  en 
tire  Federal  army  of  about  200,000  men,  are  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river. 

We  have  a  large  army,  which  is  being  placed  in  position. 
There  are  some  troops  a  little  in  advance  of  us,  but  I  sup 
pose  our  body  will  soon  join  them.  We  expect  every  mo 
ment  to  hear  from  them.  Will  await  further  operations. 

FOUR  O'CLOCK  P.  M.— A  circular  has  just  been  read  to  us 
announcing  that  Stonewall  Jackson  is  in  the  rear  of  the 
enemy's  right  wing.  I  have  just  heard  General  Anderson 
say  that  he  did  not  know  why  the  attack  had  not  been 
made,  as  the  time  appointed  for  it  had  passed. 

LATER. — Thank  God,  I  hear  the  roar  of  Jackson's  artil- 
ery.  That  he  is  there  is  an  indisputable  fact,  the  evidence 
of  which  is  a  heavy  cannonading. 


98  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

A  FEW  MINUTES  LATER.— Firing  has  commenced  just  in 
our  front,  said  to  be  from  Hill's  division. 

We  are  ordered  to  prepare  for  action.  Marching  orders  t 
We  march  to  the  front.  Good-bye.  J.  W.  REID. 


BATTLEFIELD  NEAR  MECHANICSVILLE,  VA.,        V 
3  o'clock  P.  M.,  June  27,  1862.  j 

We  were  ordered  to  the  front,  the  firing  still  going  on  in 
advance  qf  us,  and  over  in  the  direction  of  York  river, 
where  Jackson  opened  the  fight.  The  York  river  is  still 
further  on,  rather  to  the  left  of  our  front. 

By  the  time  we  reached  the  Chickahominy  river  (a  creek 
up  here),  it  was  night,  and  very  dark.  We  were  halted 
about  the  time  I  reached  the  middle  of  the  bridge  by 
which  we  crossed  the  stream.  We  remained  standing  for 
some  time,  when  orders  came  to  rest  where  we  were  until 
further  orders,  for  us  to  remain  with  our  equipments  on 
and  arms  in  hand. 

I  made  my  way  over  the  bridge  and  lay  down  on  a  beau 
tiful  sand  bar  by  the  river.  I  fell  asleep,  and  for  a  time 
forgot  I  was  a  soldier  on  a  battle  field.  Very  early  in  the 
morning  I  was  aroused  by  the  familiar  boom  of  cannon 
and  rattle  of  musketry.  I  was  nearly  frozen,  for  the  damp 
sand  had  chilled  me  through. 

We  took  up  the  line  of  march,  and  were  soon  engaged. 

All  day  the  fight  has  been  going  on  along  our  lines. 

Jackson  is  still  in  the  direction  of  the  York  river,  from 
which  he  is  trying  to  keep  the  enemy,  who  have  gradually 
given  back,  but  they  have  disputed  every  inch  of  the 
ground.  The  place  where  we  commenced  is  called  Mechan- 
icsville. 

I  cannot  convey  an  idea  of  the  awful  confusion  and  strife 
going  on  at  this  moment.  Marehiug  orders. 

Six  O'CLOCK  P.  M.— Still  among  the  living,   though  I 
am  here  only  through  the  blessing  of  the  great  God. 
We  have  gone  through  an  awful  day. 
Many  of  my  companions  in  arms  are  killed  and  wounded 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  99 

and  I  am  now  among  the  living  atid  the  dead  writing 
these  lines  to  you.  I  hope  we  are  halted  for  the 
night.  I  cannot  give  a  list  of  the  killed  and  wounded 
among  your  acquaintances.  But  what  you  desire  most  to 
know  is,  is  Jesse  alive  ?  He  answers  "Yes." 

BATTLEFIELD,  2  O'clock,  P.  M.,  June  28.— Still  among  the 
living,  though  surrounded  by  dead.  To-day  it  seems  that 
if  Vesuvius  and  yEtna  were  in  eruption  with  their  awful 
rumbling  and  belching  out  burning  lava  streams  of  death 
and  destruction  it  could  not  exceed  the  uproar  and  ter 
rors  which  transpired  here  since  the  battle  opened  this 
morning. 

I  shall  not  attempt  a  description.  Four  hundred  thous 
and  men  engaged  in  the  work  of  extermination ;  the  noise 
of  the  battle,  the  cries  of  the  vvounded,  the  groans  of  the 
dying  cannot  be  described  on  paper.  4-nd  all  this  is  going 
on  aground  me. 

;  Our  command  is  resting  a  little.  I  presume  tha>t  every 
.ambulance  in  the  army  is  flying  to  and  fro  carrying  the 
wounded  to  Bichmond.  Then  many  from  the  , city  are 
helping  in  the  same  work,  and  are  removing  the  suffering 
iat  this  moment.  Many  brave  men  have  fallen  to-day. 
The  gaping,  bleeding  wounds  of  the  wounded  and  dying 
.are  pitiful,;  but  not  more  heartrending  than  will  be  the 
agony  of  breaking  hearts  at  home. 

Marching  orders.    Hope  for  the  best. 

JUST  BEFORE  SUNSET. — We  are  slowly  but  surely  driving 
the  enemy  before  us,  but  it  is  costing  us  a  great  deal  to 
do  so.  They  give  back  in  good  order  and  often  turn  .on 
us  and  give  us  as  good  as  we  send.  We  are  now  seve'ral 
Lmiles  below  Mechanics ville,  at  which  place  the  ball  opened. 

I  don't  know  under  what  name  these  several  battles  win 
[be  know ;  it  should  be,  Legion !  For  they  are  many  in 
number  and  the  end  is  not  ^et. 

°As  it  irs  now  nearly  dark  I  shall  have  to  close  this  letter. 
I  will  send  it  by  wagon  to  Richmond.  [  will  commence 
another  to-morrow,  if  spared.  Captain  Hall  says  I  am 
bullet  proof.  I  hope  it  may  be  so.  Be  cheerful. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


100  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

BATTLEFIELD  BELOW  RICHMOND,  June  29,  1862.— Still 
alive  to  tell  of  the  state  of  affairs  among  us.  To  give  a 
description  of  the  fighting  now  going  on  would  be  a  repe 
tition  of  what  I  have  previously  written.  Each  day  is  an 
echo  of  the  one  preceding  it.  Death  and  destruction  on  all 
sides  and  no  cessation  of  hostilities. 

We  march  and  fight  all  day  and  sleep  on  our  arms  at 
night.  The  enemy  is  slowly  giving  back  and  we  are  get 
ting  them  down  into  the  peninsular,  where  the  rivers  are 
not  so  far  apart.  It  is  said  that  Jackson  is  keeping  them 
from  the  York  river.  Their  only  chance  that  I  can  see  is  to 
take  to  their  boats  on  the  James  river,  which  I  suppose 
they  will  soon  be  compelled  to  do.  If  we  had  a  navy  on 
the  river  we  would  get  them  about  the  same  place  Lord 
Cornwallis  surrendered  to  Washington. 

We  march  again. 

JUNE  30TH.— Still  marching  and  fighting.  The  earth  is 
fairly  shaking  and  the  heavens  are  darkened  with  smoke. 

When,  O,  when  will  it  end  ? 

There  is  no  firing  immediately  in  our  front  just  now,  but 
I  am  momentarily  expecting  it.  It  cannot  last  much 
longer,  but  alas,  the  lives  that  will  be  lost  before  the  close. 

McClelland  will  soon  have  to  surrender  or  take  water. 
Marching  orders. 

JULY  IST. — Longstreet's  division  has  sustained  such 
heavy  losses  in  this  protracted  struggle  that  they  are  not 
doing  much  fighting. 

The  enemy  are  still  falling  back  in  good  order,  fighting 
as  they  go.  They  undoubtedly  cannot  hold  out  much 
longer. 

It  is  now  getting  dark  and    dismal.    I    will   lie   down 
among  the  dead  and  wounded  and  get  what  rest  I  can. 
Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  101 

JULY  2D,  5  O'clock  p.  M. 

Now  the  rage  of  battle  ended. 

And  the  foe  for  mercy  call, 
Death  no  more  in  smoke  and  thnnder 

Rides  upon  the  vengeful  ball. 

The  greatest  battle  of  the  age  is  over  and  I  am  spared  to 
write  you.  The  enemy  have  made,  it  is  thought,  their  last 
but  boldest  stand.  It  was  the  most  obstinate  and  terri 
ble  battle  yet  fought.  There  are  hundreds  of  dead  bodies 
all  over  the  field.  At  one  place  where  the  enemy  had  a 
battery  there  are  hundreds  of  dead  bodies  on  a  plot  of 
ground  no  larger  than  a  small  garden.  When  the  charge 
was  made  on  this  battery  the  enemy  poured  a  very  destruc 
tive  fire  of  grape  and  canister  among  us,  killing  a  great 
many.  No  stop  ;  the  charge  was  made,  the  battery  taken, 
the  enemy  dispersed.  Hundreds  of  them  were  killed  in 
trying  to  make  their  escape. 

It  is  thought  the  fight  is  over.  The  enemy  have  taken 
shelter  in  some  white  oak  swamps,  and  I  think  by  morn 
ing  they  will  be  in  their  vessels  homeward  bound. 

Mattison's  battalion  has  lost  in  killed  and  wounded 
about  half  of  what  few  men  we  had  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fight.  To  have  seen  the  glorious  old  Fourth  regiment  one 
year  ago,  and  to  see  it  now,  one  would  naturally  cry  out, 
"0,  cruel,  cruel  war,  what  mischief  thou  hast  done  I  Fare 
well,  Fourth  regiment;  farewell,  Mattison's  battalion  !" 


Mr.  Phillips  is  safe,  with  the  wagons.  Joe  Land  was  alive 
yesterday ;  Willis  Dixon  unhurt ;  Eiley  Burress  killed ; 
Silas  Crow  killed ;  Thomas  Stacks  wounded ;  Lieutenant 
S.  P.  Haynie,  mortally  wounded  ;  Sam  Couch  wounded  ; 
James  Lofton,  badly  wounded;  James  Skelton,  wounded  in 
the  head,  and  will  die  ;  Matthew  Cox  and  both  the  Winter 
boys  wounded  I  cannot  give  the  names  of  all  our  neigh 
bors  and  friends  who  are  killed  or  wounded.  Their  names 
are  Legion,  for  they  are  many. 

Let  this  letter  be  read  to  all  the  neighbors.  I  will  close 
in  the  morning. 


102  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

JULY  3D,  7  O'CLOCK  A.  M.— I  have  a  chance  of  sending  this 
letter  forward  for  we  are  twenty-five  miles  below  Richmond, 
and  the  enemy  is  out  of  our Way.  I  don't  think  you  need 
be  at  all  uneasy  about  my  being  in  another  fight  before 
my  time  is  out  again.  I  think  what  we  have  just  gone 
through  will  satisfy  all' parties  concerned,  at  least  for  a 
while. 

I  feel  both  happy  and  sad.  Happy  because  I  am  safe, 
but  sad  and  sorrowful  that  so  many  of  my  companions 
are  dead  whom  I  have  known  for  a  long  time.  I  grieve 
that  Mattison's  battalion  is  no  more. 

Yours  as  ever,  J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — Among  the  wounded  men  who  died  of  their  wounds  were 
°S.  P.  Haynie,  James  Skelton,  John  Manning,  Robert  McClinton  and 
many  others  of  my  acquaintance.  J.  W.  R. 


:  CAMP  NEAR  RICHMOND,  VA.;  July  II,  1862.— After  I  had 
finished  my  letter  of  the  3d 'there  was  little  more  done. 
We  followed  the  enemy  a  mile  or  two  further  but  no  stand 
was  made  after  the  bold  stand  of  which  I  have  already 
told  you".  They  had  taken  to  their  vessels  and  departed, 
leaving  thousands  of  their  army  on  the  field.  Our  army 
has  also  lost  thousands,  among  the  number  brave  Major 
Wheat,  a  gallant  soldier.  He  was  wounded  in  the  chest, 
and  as  he  fell,  mortally  wounded,  he  cried  out,  "Bury  me 
on  the  field,  boys."  We  complied  with  his  request,  and 
buried  him  where  he  fell. 

I  cannot  give  you  a  list  of  killed  and  wounded  among 
our  acquaintances.  It  would  take  several  sheets  of  fools 
cap  paper.  For  about  twenty-five  miles  the  ground  is 
literally  strewn  with  dead  bodies.  When  or  where  has  it 
ever  been  equalled?  Certainly  not  in  any  of  Napoelon  Bona 
parte's  great  battles. 

After  following  the  enemy  as  far  as  we  thought  neces 
sary,  and  waiting  until  we  were  certain  they  had  gone,  as- 
'  certaining  that  fact,  we  began  on  the  8th  our  march  back 
toward  Richmond.  'We  got  back  to  our  old  camp  yester 
day  and  are  occupying  the  same  ground  we  dicl  before  the 
battle  began. 


South  Carolina,  Volunteers.  103 

A  sadness  pervades  the  army.  How  many  of  our  brave 
comrades,  who  left  this  place  to  the  call  of  battle,  have 
gone  to  a  bourne  from  whence  none  return.  When  I 
think  of  the  heartrending  wailing  of  the  mothers,  wid 
ows  and  orphans  at  home  a  tear  unconsciously  trickles 
down  my  cheek.  Everything  here  is  as  still  as  a  grave 
yard.  Not  one  amongst  us  but  has  lost  a  dear  relative  or 
friend  in  this  great  struggle.  There  has  been  such  noise 
and  confusion  of  late  that  the  stillness  reminds  me  of  a 
cotton  factory  when  it  suddenly  shuts  down.  Still,  still 
as  death.  The  weight  of  dreadful  silence  is  almost  as  ter 
rorizing  as  the  battle  itself. 

A  great  many  of  our  wounded  are  dying,  as  are  men 
daily  dying  from  sickness  also.  I  can  truthfully  say  that 
this  is  a  time  that  tries  men's  souls. 

I  said  in  a  former  letter,  "Farewell,  Fourth  regiment, 
farewell,  Ma-ttison's  battalion."  I  must  also  add,  "Fare 
well,  Wheat's  battalion."  It  has  been  with  us  so  long  and 
in  so  many  dark  places.  It  is  gone  like  our  own  glorious 
old  Fourth.  What  few  there  are  left  of  both  battalions 
will  hereafter  go  into  other  commands.  In  fact  we  were 
attached  to  another  regiment  during  the  fight  just  ended. 

And  now,  in  a  few  days,  if  justice  is  done,  I  will  bid  fare 
well  to  my  comrades  in  arms  (except  the  few  who  are  to 
come  with  me),  and  come  home  to  those  who  are  still 
dearer  to  my  heart  than  the  comrades  I  will  leave  behind, 
than  those  who  have  staid  with  me  through  scenes  I  can 
not  describe. 

This  is  the  last  letter  I  will  send  you  from  Northern  Vir 
ginia,  if  all  things  work  as  they  should,  and  I  think  there 
is  no  doubt  of  their  doing  so. 

I  forgot  to  mention  that  General  R.  E.  Lee  was  in  corn- 
was  during  the  reign  of  terror  just  past.  He  is  all 
is  all  right.  He  led  us  to  victory.  He  is  a  chip  of  the  old 
block  or  blocks,  Richard  Henry  Lee  and  "Lighthorse" 
Harry  Lee,  of  Revolutionary  days. 

1  know  of  but  one  bad  move  made  by  any  of  our  officers, 
and  that  was  by  a  Colonel,  whose  name  I  shall  not  men 
tion,  who,  in  making  a  charge,  took  his  men  up  in  column 


104  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

by  companies  or  divisions,  that  is,  one  company  behind 
another,  when  they  should  have  been  scattered  as  much  as 
possible.  They  were  torn  all  to  pieces.  It  was  not  from  a 
want  of  bravery  on  the  part  of  the  Colonel,  but  of  good 
tactics 

I  will  new  close  this  long  letter.    I   remain  yours  as 
ever,  J.  W.  REID. 

NOTE. — The  letter  dated  July  n,  1862,  was  the  last  one  I  wrote  before 
going  home.  After  finishing  my  letter  I  began  making  preparations. 
We  had  our  discharges  written  and  signed  by  the  officers  of  the  battal 
ion,  and  they  were  then  sent  up  to  General  Jenkins  for  his  signature. 
They  remained  there  a  day  or  two  after  our  time  was  out.  None  of  our 
officers  would  go  up  to  see  about  our  discharges.  Finally,  all  met  who 
were  going  home,  and  it  was  put  upon  me  to  go  to  General  Jenkins 
and  ascertain,  if  possible,  the  cause  of  delay.  I  went,  and  he  said  that 
he  had  never  seen  our  discharges,  but  that  he  would  sign  them  on 
sight.  We  hunted  among  a  quantity  of  other  papers  and  finally  found 
them.  He  immediately  signed  all  of  them  but  one.  If  I  had  not  gone 
to  him  I  cannot  say  how  it  would  have  been.  Whoever  had  taken  them 
there  had  laid  them  or  thrown  them  down,  and  had  not  seen  the  gen 
eral  at  all.  The  next  morning  I  gave  my  comrades  a  sad  farewell,  and 
I  left  the  lines  and  tented  field 

Where  long  I'd  been  a  lodger  ; 
My  humble  knapsack  all  my  wealth, 

A  poor  but  honest  soldier. 

In  Richmond  they  would  not  recognize  our  discharges,  because,  they 
said,  the  discharges  were  not  rightly  signed.  It  was  a  long  time  before 
the  authorities  would  tell  us  in  what  the  orders  were  wrong.  At  length 
we  were  told  that  where  General  Jenkins  had  said,  "By  order  of,"  he 
should  have  said  "Approved  by."  I  immediately  wrote  a  note  to  Gen 
eral  Jenkins  and  sent  it  backabyjmes  Dickinson,  informing  him  of  his 
mistake.  When  Dickinson  got  to  camp  the  General  was  not  present, 
but  Colonel  Moore  was  acting  in  his  place.  He  fixed  them  all  right,  and 
also  signed  the  one  that  Jenkins  had  refused,  not  knowing  it  had  been 
refused.  It  was  late  in  the  following  day  when  Dickinson  returned. 
When  he  did  return  the  man  whose  Discharge  Jenkins  had  refused  to 
sign  was  with  him,  and  he  was  the  happiest  man  outside  of  Paradise. 
There  had  been  a  misunderstanding  as  to  his  age.  He  told  us  he  was 
truly  glad  the  General  had  signed  our  discharges  wrong.  So  we  were 
delayed  in  Richmond  two  days  but  finally  got  off  on  the  i6th,  and  on 
the  i8th,  late  in  the  night,  I  reached  home. 

Ah,  the  joy,  the  inexpressible  joy  of  that  moment  can  better  be  im 
agined  than  described.  Little  did  I  think  then  that  I  would  soon  be  on 
the  Virginia  battlefield  again,  but  such  was  nevertheless  the  case,  as 
you  will  hereafter  see.  On  Old  Virginia  soil  you  shall  hear  of  me 
again.  J.  W.  R. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  105 


CHAPTER  I. 

When  the  infernal  Conscript  Act  was  amended,  taking  in 
all  those  under  forty-five  3^ears  of  age,  then  it  was  that  I 
could  truthfully  sing,  "0,  carry  me  back,  O,  carry  ine  back 
to  Old  Virginia's  shore."  But  before  entering  into  an  ac 
count  of  my  services  as  an  engineer,  I  will  remark  that  I 
cannot  give  the  exact  dates  of  passing  events  as  I  did  when 
in  the  Fourth  regiment,  as  my  letters  of  this  period  can 
not  be  found.  In  1863,  when  it  became  evident  that  I 
would  have  to  face  the  music  again,  I  put  it  off  as  long  as 
possible,  and,  when  I  saw  that  I  could  stay  at  home  no 
lunger,  I  put  on  my  equipments  and  ordered  a  forward 
march  in  single  file,  guide  right. 

At  this  time  there  was  a  regiment  at  Charleston,  S.  C., 
composed  of  the  grand  daddies  of  the  State,  in  the  State 
service,  taken  in  for  six  months.  At  this  time  there 
was  one  of  these  antedeluvians  at  home  on  a  furlough, 
who  made  a  bargain  with  my  son,  W.  Irving  Reid,  then 
about  fifteen  years  old,  to  go  to  Charleston  in  his  place, 
so  it  happened  that  we  both  left  home  at  the  same  time. 

I  will  not  attempt  a  description  of  the  heartrending 
scene  at  our  separation.  The  father  and  son,  the  only 
child,  start  to  war  at  the  same  time.  Ye  matrons,  remem 
ber  what  the  women  of  those  times  endured.  My  own 
dear  companion  gave  up  her  husband  and  her  only  child, 
all  that  she  held  dear  upon  earth,  and  was  left  alone. 
Remember  those  trying  times,  remember  the  women's 
fortitude. 

It  was  my  intention,  when  I  left  home  of  again  joining 
Longstreet's  command,  who  at  this  time  was  in  command 
of  an  entire  army  corps.  It  was  my  intention  to  go  into 
the  Sixteenth  South  Carolina  regiment,  in  which  I  had  a 
great  many  friends.  It  was  made  up  mostly  from  Green 
ville  county,  and  was  commanded  by  Colonel  James  Mc- 
Cullough,  with  whom  I  am  well  acquainted.  I  had  mus- 


106  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

tered  often  with  the  regiment  at  Toney's  old  field.  near- 
Fork  Shoals,  in  Greenville  county.  When  I  reached  Co 
lumbia  I  was  informed  that  the  whereabouts  of  Longstreet 
was  unknown,  and  that  I  would  have  to  remain  at  the 
camp  of  instruction  (destruction,  the  boys  called  it),  until 
Longstreet  could  be  heard  from.  Accordingly,  I  went  on 
to  the  camp  after  night,  my  son  going;  with  me.  I  was 
soon  enrolled  as  a  member  of  the  camp  of  instruction,  and 
it  took  all  the  oratory  I  could  command  to  keep  them 
from  enrolling  Irving  also.  I  told  them  I  would  send  him 
back  home  before  they  should  enroll  his  name  there.  They 
asked  me  if  I  was  willing  to  swear  that  he  was  under  the 
conscript  age.  I  told  them  I  was  willing  to  swear  to  it, 
and  I  am  not  certain  but  what  I  did  sware  a  little,  though 
not  on  Holy  writ.  Next  morning  I  saw  him  off  for  Charles 
ton.  Conjecture  my  feelings,  ye  fathers  in  Israel,  when  I 
saw  the  last  tie  upon  earth  (except  those  I  had  already 
left),  leave  me  to  go  to  one  portion  of  the  war  and  I  to 
another.  One  thing  I  well  knew,  that  notwithstanding  he 
was  nothing  but  a  boy,  he  was  as  brave  as  Csesar,  and 
that  his  heart  was  about  the  biggest  thing  about  him. 
The  only  thing  I  dreaded  in  him  was  insubordination,  for 
he  always  wanted  his  own  way. 

When  the  cars  sped  away  with  my  only  child,  bound  for 
the  scenes  of  conflict,  my  feelings  cannot  be  described  on 
paper.  I  did  not  expect  at  that  time  to  see  him  again  on 
earth.  The  sequel  will  show  that  I  was  mistaken. 

As  I  walked  back  through  Columbia,  who  should  I  meet, 
right  opposite  the  State  house,  but  Major  Mattison,  whose 
wound,  received  at  Seven  Pines,  was  partially  well.  He 
was  now  a  member  of  the  legislature.  We  talked  over  old 
times  for  a  while  and  then  separated,  he  for  the  State 
house  and  I  for  the  camp  of  instruction. 

I  will  state  for  the  information  of  those  who  have  no 
knowledge  of  this  institution,  that  this  camp  of  instruc 
tion  (although,  for  my  life  I  can't  see  what  instruction  was 
given  there),  was  where  all  the  men  of  the  State  subject  to 
conscription  were  sent  previous  to  going  into  the  army. 
Most  of  these  men  had  never  been  in  service,  and  to  say 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  107 

the  truth,  the  greater  .part  were  unfit  for  it.  The  lame,  the 
halt,the  blind  were  taken  there  and  examined  by  doctors, 
some  of  whom  could  not  have  told  what  was  the  matter 
with  a  man  broken  out  with  measles,  and  if  a  person 
could  walk  a  dozen  steps  without  falling  or  fainting  they 
were  pronounced  able  for  duty.  Sometimes  it  would  be 
for  light  duty,  but  I  have  never  yet  found  what  light  duty 
is  to  acommou  soldier.  Light  places  there  are,  but  not  for 
a  private  soldier.  In  all  my  knowledge  of  military  duty, 
military  tactics  and  army  regulations,  I  have  failed  yet 
to  find  light  duty  for  a  private  soldier. 


CHAPTER  II. 

At  the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking,  the  men  carried  to 
the  camp  of  instruction  were  allowed  to  go  into  any  part 
of  the  army  they  chose,  and  that  being  the  case,  there 
were  recruiting  officers  there  from  all  parts  and  all 
branches  of  the  service.  Those  Avho  did  not  go  with  the 
recruiting  officer  were  sent  to  whatever  part  of  the  service 
they  were  thought  to  be  needed  the  most,  under  a  guard, 
and  for  that  reason  most  of  the  men  would  join  a  recruit 
ing  officer  rather  than  be  sent  off  under  a  guard.  A  day 
or  two  after  I  got  to  camp  Lieutenant  R.  P.  C.  Rumbough, 
a  recruiting  officer  for  the  First  Regiment  of  Engineers, 
came  to  camp  trying  to  get  recruits.  He  came  several 
times  (his  office  was  in  Columbia),  but  got  no  recruits, 
the  men  a,s  a  general  thing  not  knowing  anything  of  that 
kind  of  service.  One  day  when  Rumbough  was  absent  I 
told  several  of  the  men  the  duties  of  the  engineer  troop, 
and  told  them  I  thought  it  a  good  place.  By  my  recom 
mendation  of  the  service,  several  of  the  men  concluded  to 
join  the  engineers.  When  Rumbough  came  back  to  camp. 
I  informed  him  of  what  I  had  done.  He  then  gave  me 
power  of  attorney  to  recruit  for  him.  From  this  time  on 
I  was  king  of  the  camp  of  instruction.  It  was  soon  known 
all  over  camp  that  I  had  heard  it  thunder.  I  could  fre 
quently  overhear  such  remarks  as,  "He  war  in  the  big  Ma- 


108  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

nassy  fight  under  Stonewall  Thompson."  "No,  he  told 
me,"  says  another,  "outen  his  own  mouth  that  he  fit  under 
old  Bonyguard,"  " And  I  understand,"  said  another,  "that 
he  was  with  Washington  at  Williamsburg,"  "Yes,  and  he 
was  with  Bonyparte  at  the  battle  of  Seven  Long  Leaf 
Pines,"  but  to  clap  the  climax  oilman  declared  that  I  had 
been  an  aid  de  camp  to  Julius  Caesar  at  the  big  seven 
day's  fight  around  Babylon! 

It  was  but  a  few  days  until  I  had  sixteen  men  on  my 
list.  Lieutenant  Rum  bough  came  to  me  and  wanted  to 
know  why  I  could  not  go  with  them  to  Virginia.  I  stated 
to  him  my  reasons  for  wanting  to  goto  Longstreet's com 
mand.  He  then  offered  to  temporarily  appoint  me  ser 
geant  to  go  with  the  men,  rather  than  for  them  to  go 
under  a  guard,  also  offering  to  recommend  me  to  Colonel 
T.  M.  R.  Talcott,  asking  him  to  approve  the  appointment 
and  let  me  remain  as  a  sergeant.  With  the  persuasion  of 
Rum  bough  and  the  men  whom  I  had  gotten,  I  finally  con 
sented  to  go,  with  the  understanding  that  if  Colonel  Tal 
cott  did  not  approve  my  appointment  I  was  not  to  be 
considered  as  belonging  to  the  regiment,  and  was  to  have 
the  liberty  of  going  in  any  part  of  the  service  I  chose.  All 
commissioned  engineer  officers  are  examined  by  a  board 
of  engineers  and  appointed  by  them.  All  non-commis 
sioned  officers  are  examined  by  the  colonel  and  appointed 
by  him.  They  must  all  understand  something  about  en 
gineering.  The  commissioned  officers  must  all  be  engin 
eers  practically.  A  sergeant  in  the  engineers  is  about 
equal  in  rank  to  a  lieutenant  in  the  infantry.  They 
carry  a  sword  and  do  the  same  duties  as  a  lieutenant  and 
receive  about  the  same  pay.  So  the  arrangement  was 
made  and  we  left  Columbia  for  Richmond,  Va.,  where  Col 
onel  Talcott's  head  quarter's  were.  When  we  reached  Ches 
ter  the  train  stopped  for  dinner,  and  my  men  asked  leave  to 
get  out  and  walk  about  a  little.  I  gave  them  permission  to 
do  so,  but  when  the  whistle  blew  and  the  train  started  one 
of  the  men  named  Wells  was  missing.  He  had  gone  on  up 
to  York,  where  he  lived.  He  had,  just  before  leaving  Co 
lumbia,  received  a  box  of  provisions  from  home,  which  had 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  109 

not  been  opened.  When  I  found  out  that  Wells  was  cer 
tainly  gone  I  was  glad  of  it,  for  I  had  much  rather  have 
the  box  than  to  have  Wells.  So  I  opened  the  same  and 
found  hams,  pies,  pound  cake,  butter  and  all  sorts  of  good 
ies.  I  divided  it  out  exactly  equal,  giving  myself  a  little 
the  most,  and  so  we  fared  sumptuously  every  day  wrhile it- 
lasted.  After  traveling  three  days  and  nights,  and  being 
"scroughed"  nearly  out  of  our  hides,  we  finally  reached 
Richmond,  to  which  I  once  thought  I  had  bidden  a  final  fare 
well.  Human  calculations  are  nothing  but  folly.  I  took 
my  men  to  the  Soldiers'  Home,  where  we  remained  all 
night.  Next  morning  (Sunday)  I  hunted  Colonel  Talcott's 
headquarters.  He  was  gone  to  church.  In  the  evening  I 
took  Joel  Crisp  of  Laurens  county,  with  me,  knowing  him 
to  be  a  good  talker,  and  found  Colonel  Talcott  at  his  head 
quarters.  He  seemed  to  scrutinize  me  pretty  closely,  but 
I  tried  to  look  as  big  as  Watch  and  as  brave  as  Ashmore's 
old  hare-liped  Csezar,  but  I  did  not  say  much  for  fear  of 
saying  something  that  would  knock  me  into  a  cocked  hat. 
But  seriously,  I  thought  that  the  Colonel  was  forming  a 
pretty  good  opinion  of  me,  from  the  way  he  talked.  He 
told  me  to  take  the  men  up  to  Camp  Lee  and  turn  them 
over  to  Lieutenant  Young,  until  they  could  be  regularly 
assigned  over  to  the  engineer  regiment,  but  for  me  to  go 
myself  on  Monday  morning  to  the  engineers'  camp  and 
form  the  acquaintance  of  Captain  Robinson,  as  I  would 
have  to  be  recommended  by  him  before  I  could  be 
regularly  appointed  a  sergeant,  according  to  army  regu 
lations.  I  did  as  directed,  but  I  felt  as  though  I  was  about 
to  be  run  through  a  flint  mill.  On  Monday  morn  ing  I  put 
qn  as  sanctimonious  a  look  as  possible,  took  Crisp  with 
me  again  to  help  me  talk,  and  went  to  Captain  Robinson. 
As  strange  as  it  may  seem,  I  had  a  chance  to  tell  him  who 
I  was  before  Crisp  said  anything.  Crisp  then  commenced 
and  gave  me  a  reputation  that  General  Washington  him 
self  would  almost  envy.  Oh,  I  tell  you,  he  read  my  title 
clear  to  mansions  in  the  army.  I  soon  found  that  all  was 
right  with  Captain  Robinson,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned, 
but  from  his  talk  and  looks  I  did  not  think  he  was  glued 


110  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

very  fast  to  Crisp.    He  recommended  me  to  Colonel  Tal- 
cott  as  being  worthy  of  the  appointment. 


CHAPTER  TIL 

I  was,  in  a  day  or  two  afterwardsr  regularly  appointed  a 
sergeant  in  Company  K,  First  Regiment  Engineer  Troops, 
and  was  given  a  written  commission,  which  I  have  yet. 
My  pay  was  f  45  per  month.  The  colonel  then  appointed  me 
a  recruiting  officer,  and  started  me  back  to  South  Carolina, 
to  my  joy.  The  colonel  said  that  Rumbough  had  inform 
ed  him  that  I  was  a  much  better  hand  at  recruiting  than 
he  was  himself.  I  was  already  a  ware  of  that  fact,  but  had 
not  said  so.  Crisphad.  It  may  be  possible  they  thought 
me  a  better  recruiting  officer  than  I  would  be  as  an  en 
gineer  officer.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  was  now  both,  but  I 
found  out  afterwards  that  the  duties  I  had  to  perform  al 
ways  gave  satisfaction.  As  above  stated  I  was  sent 
back  to  South  Carolina,  no  time  being  mentioned  when  I 
was  to  return.  My  trip  back  to  South  Carolina  and  my 
recruiting  .business  is  of  little  importance  to  the  reader 
of  to-day.  I  will  therefore  state  that  I  went  to  the  carnp 
of  instruction  at  Columbia  and  recruited  a  day  or  tw^o.  I 
got  two  or  three  recruits,  with  wrhom  I  left  some  papers 
authorizing  them  to  recruit  for  me  in  my  absence,  and  went 
home.  While  at  home  I  took  a  trip  to  Greenville  and 
other  places,  getting  all  the  recruits  I  could.  After  re 
maining  at  home  about  three  weeks,  I  again  bid  my  wife 
good-bye  and  started  for  Old  Virginia.  When  I  ar 
rived  at  Columbia  I  found  I  had  twenty-one  recruits,  in  all, 
for  my  regiment.  I  had  taken  sixteen  men  before, 
Wells  included.  I  soon  got  transportation  for  us  all,  and 
rolled  off  for  Virginia.  We  got  to  Richmond  one  evening, 
and  that  same  night  Colonel  Talcott  fixed  up  my  papers 
and  the  next  day  started  me  back  again  for  South  Caro 
lina.  I  had  remained  in  Richmond  only  one  night. 

When  I  got  to  Columbia  I  felt  like  a  bag  of  cucumbers, 
well  shaken  up.  Never  was  I  so  tired  riding  in  my  life. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  Ill 

The  cars  were  always  crowded  almost  to  suffocation,  and 
a  great  deal  of  the  time  I  was  obliged  to  stand  up.  I  had 
{slept  scarcely7  twelve  hours  in  the  entire  week.  When  I 
reached  Columbia  I  found  that  the  regiment  of  grand- 
daddies,  whom  1  have  already  mentioned,  would  be  in  Co 
lumbia  that  night,  homeward  bound,  their  time  being  out. 
I  knew  that  my  son  Irving,  if  living,  would  be  with  them, 
and  I  also  knew  that  according  to  the  last  amendment  of 
the  Conscript  Act,  many  of  them  would  have  to  go  into 
the  Confederate  service  again  in  thirty  days,  being  allowed 
that  length  of  time  to  remain  at  home.  This  was  a  good 
chance  for  me  as  a  recruiting  officer,  if  I  could  get  off  with 
the  regiment  in  the  morning.  I  almost  ran  to  the  camp 
of  instruction,  left  some  recruiting  papers  with  some  of 
the  men  there,  ran  back  to  Columbia,  had  my  transporta 
tion  papers  fixed  up,  but  not  at  business  hours  ;  it  was  done 
for  accommodation. 

I  got  everything  in  readiness  to  start  with  the  antede- 
luvian  regiment  next  morning.  I  then  turned  out  to  hunt 
up  Irving,  for  they  had  gotten  in  by  this  time.  I  found 
my  old  brother-in-law,  J.  J.  Lewis,  who  told  me  that  Ir 
ving  was  along,  but  had  gone,  he  supposed,  up  town.  I 
hunted  around  for  some  time  and  found  everybody  but 
Irving,  but  could  find  nothing  of  him.  I  then  gave  up  the 
job.  It  was  now  after  midnight.  I  think  the  boy  must 
have  been  taking  a  census  of  the  town,  as  I  could  hear  of  no 
place  he  had  not  just  left.  Next  morning,  however,  I  found 
him  quite  early,  close  to  where  we  had  parted  some  time 
before.  And  we  went  home  together  after  going  off  to 
gether — quite  a  curious  coincidence. 

I  got  a  good  many  recruits  out  of  that  regiment,  and 
after  visiting  Greenville  again  and  remaining  about  home 
for  over  five  weeks,  I  again  set  out  for  Columbia.  The 
reason  I  remained  so  long  wTas  that  the  men  I  was  recruit 
ing  were  allowed  thirty  days  before  they  were  compelled  to 
enter  the  service  again,  and  accordingly  I  had  to  wait  for 
them.  I  had  written  to  my  superiors  and  informed  them 
of  affairs,  and  received  instructions  to  wait  for  the  men. 

I  expect  the  reader  thinks  I  am  getting  rather  far  off 


112  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

from  the  war.  Never  mind ;  we'll  get  there  time  enough  for 
me.  I  don't  know  how  it  may  be  with  you,  but  if  you  will 
follow  me  for  awhile  you  will  soon  find  stirring  times. 
Bear  in  mind  that  I  am  not  writing  a  history  of  the  war, 
but  merely  what  came  under  my  personal  observation. 

I  again  bade  my  family  adieu  and  started  to  Columbia. 
When  I  arrived  at  the  camp  of  instruction  I  found  I  had 
twenty-five  recruits.  I  immediately  made  necessary  ar 
rangements  and  again  (for  the  last  time,  as  it  happened), 
set  out  for  Virginia.  On  this  trip  an  incident  or  two  oc- 
cnrred  which  I  will  relate  as  briefly  as  possible. 

When  we  reached  Weldoii,  in  North  Carolina,  we  found 
everything  in  confusion.  The  enemy  had  made  a  dash  up 
the  river,  and  the  Weldonites  were  panic  stricken,  thinking 
they  would  be  attacked.  They  were  stopping  all  Kich- 
mond-bound  trains,  and  were  pressing  the  men  in  to  go 
down  the  river  and  keep  the  enemy  back.  As  I  have 
before  stated,  I  had  twenty-five  men  with  me  who  would 
do  anything  I  told  them.  Some  of  them  seemed  to  look 
on  me  as  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  Confederate  army. 
When  I  was  told  to  take  my  men  and  go  down  the  river 
there  were  about  forty  other  soldiers  in  the  coach  who 
agreed  to  stand  by  me.  It  was  night  and  I  refused  to  go. 
They  threatened  force.  1  said,  "Where  are  the  arms  we 
are  to  use?"  "There  are  none  here,"  they  replied,  "but 
perhaps  some  can  be  gotten  down  there."  When  I  found 
they  had  no  arms  I  felt  better.  I  replied  that  I  could  find 
arms  and  equipments  a  d— d  sight  nearer  than  that,  and 
if  they  undertook  to  force  us  that  I  would  produce  them 
and  sixty  or  seventy  men  to  use  them,  and  they  would  be 
used  for  any  purpose  I  would  propose. 

They  retreated  in  good  order,  thinking  we  had  a  box  of 
guns  with  us. 

During  this  melee  some  of  my  men's  eyes  looked  a  good 
deal  like  dogwood  blossoms,  but  still  they  would  have 
stuck  to  me— especially  if  I  had  run,  which  I  would  -surely 
have  done  before  I  would  have  gone  down  the  river  in  the 
dark  without  arms.  We  remained  in  the  coach  all  night, 
and  next  morning  chartered  an  old  freight  car  and  just 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  113 

about  forced  an  engineer  to  take  us  on  to  Petersburg. 
Just  before  we  started,  a  little  bow-legged  dude  of  an  offi 
cer  told  me  that  he  would  report  me  to  General  Lee.  I 
told  him  to  go  to— his  daddies'— I  would  report  at  head 
quarters  myself  to-morrow,  and  so  I  did,  but  I  did  not  re 
port  this  movement. 

We  got  to  Petersburg  in  the  evening,  and  had  to  remain 
until  9  o'clock  in  the  night,  waiting  for  a  train.  I  had 
gotten  my  men  all  in  one  coach  with  a  good  many  others, 
A  good  looking  soldier  came  in  and  took  a  seat  at  a  win 
dow  near  me.  He  had  been  there  but  a  few  moments  when 
a  negro  boy  come  to  the  window  and  said :  "Boss,  I  want 
dat  quarter  you  owes  me."  The  man  replied,  "I  don't 
owe  you  anything,"  but  the  boy  still  contended  for  the 
quarter  "dat  you  owes  me."  At  length,  finding  that  he 
could  not  collect  "dat  quarter,"  he  jerked  off  the  man's 
hat  arid  ran  off  through  the  dark  with  it.  The  man  struck 
out  in  the  dark  after  him. 

Being  gone  some  time  he  returned  with  a  hat.  He  had 
occupied  his  seat  but  a  short  time  when  an  old  negro  man 
came  to  the  door  of  the  car  and  said,  "Mister,  I  wants  my 
hat."  The  man  said  that  he  knew  nothing  of  his  hat,  and 
finally  after  a  long  argument,  the  negro  said,  "I'll  go 
fotch  de  p'lice."  When  he  got  off  the  car  the  man  said, 
"Boys,  we  are  all  soldiers  together.  What  shall  I  do?"  I 
will  admit  that,  honest  as  I  try  to  be,  1  was  sorry  for  him. 
I  happened  to  spy  a  torn  place  in  the  cloth  lining  of  the 
coach  overhead.  I  gave  the  man  a  wink  and  pointed  to 
the  rent.  In  an  instant  the  hat  was  in  it,  and  soon  the 
policeman  came.  He  was  shown  the  man  but  could  not 
find  the  hat.  A  few  minutes  later  the  train  moved  off  for 
Richmond,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  hat  man.  As  soon  as 
the  train  had  fairly  started  he  came  to  me  and  said: 
"What  would  become  of  me  if  you  had  not  shown  me  that 
hole  ?"  He  then  asked  me  if  I  ever  drank  anything.  I  an 
swered  in  the  affirmative.  He  said  I  should  have  what  I 
wanted  when  we  got  to  Richmond.  He  was  as  good  as  his 
word.  He  looked  and  talked  live  a  gentleman,  although 
he  had  not  acted  so. 


114:  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

When  we  reached  the  city  I  soon  bid  the  hat  man  adieu 
arid  took  my  men  to  the  Soldiers'  Home  again,  and  re 
mained  all  night. 

Next  morning  I  reported  to  Colonel  Talcott,  and  the 
men  and  myself  were  all  assigned  over  to  the  First  regi 
ment  of  engineer  troops,  myself  to  Company  K,  com 
manded  by  Captain  G.  VV.  Kobinson.  T.  M.  K.  Talcott 
was  colonel, Blackford,  lieutenant-colonel,  Ran 
dolph,  major ;  or  those  were  the  field  officers  after  we  were 
regularly  organized,  but  at  the  time  I  am  now  writing  I 
think  Talcott  was  only  lieutenant-colonel. 

I  will  now  run  over  the  balance  of  the  companies  in  Vir 
ginia  as  briefly  as  I  can.  By  this  time  our  army  had 
fallen  back  from  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  with  the 
enemy  at  their  heels.  About  the  operations  carried  on 
there  I  shall  have  nothing  to  say,  as  I  was  not  with  the 
army  at  the  time.  Vicksburg  had  also  been  taken,  and 
everything  began  to  look  dark  on  our  side.  It  did  not 
take  a  Solomon  to  foresee  how  things  would  end.  Our 
circulating  medium,  Confederate  money,  was  worthless. 
We  were  scarce  of  all  kinds  of  supplies,  and  more  than  all 
we  were  short  of  men,  and  what  few  we  had  were  becom 
ing  disheartened.  Therefore  it  was  an  easy  thing  to  see 
how  the  matter  would  naturally  go.  This  was  the  condi 
tion  of  things  when  I  again  took  up  my  abode  in  Virginia. 

By  this  time  a  law  had  been  enacted  forbidding  any  more 
recruiting,  as  the  men  coming  into  the  service  must  be  as 
signed  to  whatever  part  of  the  service  they  were  most 
needed.  Therefore  I  did  not  go  recruiting  again,  but  re 
mained  with  the  army  until  I  went  home  to  stay,  of  which 
event  1  will  inform  you  in  due  time. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

It  was  now  about  January,  1864.  Our  regiment  re 
mained  in  camp  near  Richmond  about  three  months, 
doing  but  little  duty  of  any  kind.  While  we  were  in  camp 
Dahlgren  made  his  famous  raid  into  Richmond,  from  which 


South  Carolina,  Volunteers.  115 

lie  never  returned.  When  this  attack  was  made  the  City 
Guards  of  Richmond  were  taken  away  for  a  few  days  and 
rny  regiment  had  to  guard  the  prisoners  on  Belle  Isle  in 
their  place.  My  company  and  another  company  of 
the  regiment  were  sent  one  day  on  guard.  It  was  uncom 
monly  cold  weather,  and  several  men  died  from  the  effect 
of  cold  taken  there.  Two  of  the  men  who  had  gone  with 
me  there  died  with  something  like  brain  fever,  Louis-Mar- 
tin,  of  Anderson,  and Meadows,  of  Spartanburg, 

One  day  just  after  this  I  was  officer  of  the  guard  at 
camp.  Jus.t  at  night  a  man  was  brought  to  the  guard 
house  for  going  to  Richmond  and  staying  several  days 
without  leave  of  absence.  I  got  orders  to  buck  him  all 
night  and  make  him  dig  up  a  stump  the  next  morning. 
After  he  was  bucked  awhile  he  begged  me  so  hard  to  un 
loose  him  that  I  did  so,  the  guard  all  promising  not  to  re 
port  me  for  it.  Next  morning  I  put  him  to  digging  or 
rather  scratching  up  a  stump.  It  was  raining  heavily.  I 
went  to  the  officer  of  the  day  and  told  him  it  was  as  bad 
on  the  men  guarding  him  as  on  the  prisoner,  and  that  he 
knew  no  more  about  digging  than  a  child.  The  officer 
told  me  to  let  him  off,  and  I  did  so.  He  was  an  Italian. 

Nothing  of  importance  happened  with  us  after  this  Ital 
ian  affair.  A  pig  could  have  rooted  up  the  stump  before 
he  could  have  dug  it  up.  I  withhold  his  name. 

In  march  or  early  in  April  we  moved  up  near  Orange 
Courthouse,  where  our  main  army  was  then  stationed.  I 
had  been  there  before.  We  put  up  camp  in  sight  of  our  old 
Camp  Taylor,  of  which  I  have  spoken  in  the  Fourth  regi 
ment.  At  this  place  our  regiment  undertook  to  drill  in 
what  we  call  a  battalion  dril.  The  companies  were  not 
equalized  and  were  without  form,  and  void  of  military 
tactics  or  army  regulations  or  discipline.  We  got  dread 
fully  mixed  up.  Some  of  the  officers  would  give  the  com 
mand  :  "By  the  left  shank,  file  right,  double  creep, 
march!"  Another  would  say,  "Double  fast,  common  time, 
stop  !  You  don't  know  one  thing  about  military  tick- 
tacks.".  Sometimes  part  of  the  company  was  going  in 
one  direction  and  some  in  another,  I  began  to  think  we 


11G  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

were  being  mustered  out  of  the  service  and  each  campany 
had  started  home. 

Shortly  after  we  came  here,  my  company,  as  I  call 
it,  (for  I  had  made  it  up  and  would  have  been  captain 
of  it  if  it  had  been  left  to  an  election),  was  appointed  as  a 
pontoon  company.  We  went  every  day  to  a  millpoiid  not 
far  off  and  put  in  a  pontoon  bridge  and  would  then  take 
it  out  again.  In  this  way  we  soon  learned  to  understand 
the  bu sines  well. 

At  this  time  we  were  daily  expecting  a  big  battle,  and  it 
soon  came,  but  before  it  did  I  got  a  letter  from  Dr.  Todd, 
at  home.  I  received  it  on  the  1st  day  of  May,  1864.  Dr. 
Todd  advised  me  to  come  home  if  possible,  as  my  wife  was 
very  ill  with  pneumonia.  I  don't  think  there  was  a  worse 
time  during  the  war  to  ask  for  a  furlough.  But  I  knew 
that  the  officers  of  my  regiment  would  do  the  best  they 
could  for  me,  and  as  we  belonged  to  no  particular  brigade 
or  division  of  the  army,  a  furlough  only  had  to  be  signed 
by  my  captain,  my  colonel  and  General  Lee.  That  very 
day  my  furlough  was  signed  by  my  captain,  Colonel 
Talcott  and  General  Lee  and  was  given  to  me  that  even 
ing.  If  I  had  belonged  to  any  brigade  or  division  I  have 
no  idea  I  would  have  gotten  off  on  the  2d.  I  took  the 
train  at  Orange  Courthouse  and  started  for  home,  sweet 
home.  My  furlough  was  only  for  fifteen  days. 

I  found  my  wife  much  better.  She  was  getting  up  and 
about.  I  remained  at  home  for  a  day  or  two  and  then 
again  turned  my  back  on  all  that  I  held  dear,  to  return 
for  the  sixth  and  last  time  to  Virginia,  Avhere  scenes  of  car 
nage  and  slaughter  were  then  going  on  at  a  tremendous 
rate.  The  battle  of  the  Wilderness  had  been  fought  on 
May  5th,  or  about  that  time,  and  the  fighting  was  still 
going  on,  almost  daily,  our  army  gradually  falling  back 
all  the  time. 

1  w^as  delayed  a  great  deal  on  the  road,  and  when  I  got 
to  Danville  the  people  there  were  in  a  panic  like  those  at 
Weldon  on  a  former  occasion.  A  raid  had  been  made  up 
the  Dan  river  to  within  a  few  miles  of  Danville,  and  the 
authorities  there  were  stopping  all  passing  soldiers  and 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  117 

pressing  them  into  service  to  go  down  the  river  and  try  to 
keep  the  enemy  back.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Lee,  from 
Alabama,  and  myself  went  into  the  woods  and  hid  for 
three  days  to  keep  from  going  down  the  river  under  we 
knew  not  whom. 

We  bought  some  corn  meal  and  a  small  piece  of  bacon 
from  a  citizen  and  got  the  ladies  to  bake  our  bread.  We 
finally  ventured  into  Danville  to  see  how  the  wind  blew. 
It  was  not  blowing  at  all,  and  the  people  had  about  quit 
blowing.  The  next  morning  the  whistle  blew  and  I  was  off 
for  Richmond. 

Just  previous  to  this  the  enemy  had  made  an  attempt  to 
approach  Richmond  by  the  James  river,  but  General 
Beauregard  had  driven  them  back  below  Howlet's  Bluff, 
several  miles  below  Richmond. 

I  was  again  delayed  at  Richmond,  the  authorities  there 
not  knowing  where  the  army  was  at  the  time.  Everything 
and  everybody  was  in  confusion.  1  could  ascertain 
nothing.  I  could  get  no  papers  to  go  forward,  and  as  the 
negro  said,  I  sat  down  and  wrote  them  myself,  and  went 
without  any. 

I  took  the  first  train  going  out  and  went  to  Hanover 
Junction,  where  I  found  out  that  the  main  army  was  near 
by,  and  was  still  coming  toward  the  junction. 

I  placed  myself  at  the  roadside  to  wait  for  the  army  to 
come  up  to  see  if  I  could  find  out  anything  of  my  command . 
I  had  not  waited  long  when  the  head  of  the  army  ap 
proached  with  General  Lee  and  his  staff  along.  It  was  not 
long  before  the  head  of  my  regiment  made  its  appearance, 
Colonel  Talcott  at  its  front.  The  moment  he  saw  me  he 
inquired  what  was  the  news  from  the  south  side  (meaning 
the  south  side  of  the  James  river).  I  replied,  "Beauregard 
has  given  the  enemy  the  devil  over  there,  and  driven  them 
down  below  Howlet's  Bluff."  This  news  was'soon  in  cir 
culation  all  over  the  army,  and  a  shout  went  up,  "Hurrah 
for  Beauregard  I"  I  was  five  days  behind  my  time,  but  the 
reasons  were  well  known,  and  I  was  excused  from  all  blame 
whatsoever. 

Our  army  had  been  doing  some  very  hard  fighting  while 


118  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

I  was  gone,  and  was  still  fighting  more  or  less  every  day. 
It  was  falling  back  toward  Richmond,  with  the  enemy 
close  in  the  rear.  I  shall  not  describe  the  trials  and  suf 
ferings  of  the  army  at  this  time  as  I  was  not  with  them  at 
the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  nor  the  different  battles 
fought  afterwards  in  the  retreat  toward  Richmond.  I  leave 
these  awful  scenes  for  the  future  historian,  and  return  to 
events  which  came  under  my  own  observation,  as  was  my 
intention  at  the  beginning,  as  I  have  before  stated. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Our  engineer  regiment  was  sent  on  ahead  of  the  main 
army  to  repair  bridges,  work  on  roads  and  all  such  work 
as  might  be  needed.  Some  of  our  companies  were  sent  one 
way  and  some  another  on  all  of  the  roads  leading  in  the 
direction  of  Richmond.  My  company,  after  repairing 
some  small  bridges  and  corduroying  the  road  in  some 
places,  finally  got  to  Mechanicsville,  and  fixed  up  the 
bridge  I  had  stood  on  when  we  were  halted  the  night  pre 
vious  to  going  into  the  seven  day's  fight  commencing  at 
Mechauicsville,  and  there  we  remained  several  days. 

I  must  now  digress  a  little  and  relate  a  circumstance 
which  occurred  just  before  we  reached  Mechanicsville. 

A  man  of  my  regiment  had  been  caught  between  our 
lines  and  the  enemy's.  He  was  taken  up,  tried  by  court 
martial  and  sentenced  to  be  shot  to  death  with  musketry. 
I  was  detailed  as  officer  of  the  guard  to  guard  him  one 
day.  He  was  handcuffed.  While  under  guard  he  told  me 
that  if  he  had  paper,  pen  and  ink  he  could  write  some  let 
ters  which  might  save  his  life,  and  as  I  had  just  been  home 
I  had  a  supply  of  these  articles  on  hand.  I  suspect  I  was 
the  only  man  in  the  regiment  who  had  such  things.  I  fur 
nished  him  with  as  much  as  he  needed,  and  he  wrote  sev 
eral  letters,  one  of  which  I  know  was  to  Jefferson  Davis. 
I  did  not  know  who  the  others  were  for.  When  I  went 
to  leave  him  next  morning  he  gave  me  U0cean!s  Poems," 
in  three  volumes,  remarking  that  that  was  all  he  had  to 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  119 

give  me  in  return  for  mty  kindness  to  him.  I  at  first  re 
fused  to  take  the  books,  but  he  persisted  in  my  taking 
them,  saying  that  he  would  need  them  no  more.  While 
here  at  Mechanics ville  the  day  arrived  for  his  execution. 
The  men  were  chosen  for  the  occasion,  but  just  before  he 
was  about  to  be  executed  a  pardon  was  read  to  him.  Here 
I  lost  sight  of  him  until  just  before  the  close  of  the  war.  He 
made  his  appearance  in  camp  one  day,  and  I  was  the  first 
man  he  inquired  for.  He  told  me  I  was  the  cause  indi 
rectly  of  his  now  being  alive.  He  wanted  to  buy  the  poems 
back,  but  I  had  read  and  disposed  of  them. 

We  repaired  the  bridge  at  Mechariicsville  and  then 
bruised  around  until  we  got  to  Chafin's  Bluff,  on  James 
river.  Our  army  was  still  falling  back. 

After  remaining  there  for  a  day  or  two  Captain  Bruce's 
company  and  my  own  were  sent  to  repair  the  railroad 
between  Richmond  and  Danville.  The  enemy  had  made  a 
raid  and  torn  up  the  track  for  thirty  miles.  We  had  a 
pretty  good  time  while  there,  as  the  army  had  not  been 
there  and  provisions  were  pretty  plentiful  as  yet.  When 
we  finished  on  the  railroad  we  returned  to  Chafin's  Bluff. 
We  put  in  a  pontoon  bridge  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  boats,  left  two  of  our  company  to  guard  it,  and  a  few 
days  afterwards  the  balance  of  us  went  on  to  Petersburg 
soon  after  the  blow  up  there. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

We  went  about  two  miles  past  Petersburg  and  put  up 
camp. 

About  this  time  the  armies  were  maneuvreing  around 
Petersburg  and  Richmond  almost  continually,  not  know 
ing  which  would  be  attacked  first.  It  kept  both  armies  in 
motion.  There  was  fighting  going  on  more  or  less  all  the 
time  at  some  point  on  the  line,  the  engagements  being 
called  skirmishes,  though  they  would  have  been  consid 
ered  big  battles  in  any  of  our  previous  wars. 


120  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment, 

These  were  dark  days  for  us  ;  half  fed,  half  clothed,  some 
barefoot,  our  currency  worthless.  It  took  $50  to  buy  a 
chicken,  a  ponnd  of  bacon  or  pound  of  coffee.  Pressed  by 
an  overwhelming  army,  and  families  at  home  suffering  for 
the  prime  necessities  of  life.  Our  poor  half-starved  sol 
diers  who  had  faced  the  cannon's  mouth  for  nearly  four 
years  grew  weary  under  our  multiplied  hardships  and  pri 
vations.  To  take  all  these  things  into  consideration  it 
did  not  take  a  prophet  to  see  the  end.  We  all  saw  it  and 
publicly  talked  about  it  in  our  camps.  Our  condition  was 
deplorable  indeed. 

At  this  time  our  army  had  become  so  reduced  in  number 
that  they  called  for  all  the  boys  over  sixteen  years  old  (in 
South  Carolina,  at  least).  This  took  in  my  own  son,  my 
only  child,  from  his  mother's  arms,  his  mother's  protec 
tion,  and  put  him  into  the  battle  field.  If  this  was  not 
murder  it  was  manslaughter. 

Previous  to  this  there  had  been  a  law  or  an  order  to  the 
effect  that  any  one  getting  a  recruit  not  coming  under  the 
Conscript  Act  would  get  a  thirty  days' furlough  (these  boys 
were  to  go  into  the  State  service  in  South  Carolina).  So 
my  son,  Irving,  not  coming  under  the  Conscript  Act,  bid 
his  mother  farewell  (leaving  her  alone),  and  came  to  me 
as  a  recruit  of  mine,  which  entitled  me  to  a  thirty  days' 
furlough,  but  I  would  not  go  off  and  leave  him  at  that 
time.  Think  of  these  things,  ye  fathers  and  mothers.  Does 
it  seem  possible  that  you  could  do  so  now  ?  Or  where  is 
the  boy  sixteen  years  old  who  would  shoulder  his  musket 
and  go  eight  hundred  miles,  where  nothing  but  starvation 
and  death  could  be  looked  for?  Washington  Irving  Keid 
did  so,  when,  if  he  had  remained  in  South  Carolina  he 
would  only  have  been  taken  into  the  State  service  for  six 
months.  He  was  now  I.  F.  W.  (in  forthewar).  So  my  boy 
was  from  this  time  on  side  by  side  with  me  until  a  time  I 
shall  mention  further  on.  I  will  state,  however,  that  my 
wife  was  much  better  satisfied  that  he  should  be  with  me 
than  to  have  had  him  with  the  other  boys,  down  on  the 
coast.  It  was  for  the  best.  That  dear  woman  put  per 
fect  confidence  in  me  or  in  what  I  said. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers,  121 

The  day  after  Irving  came  to  me  I  did  not  have  him 
mustered  into  the  service,  but  let  him  go  wherever  he 
wished  to  go.  He  went  to  Petersburg  and  along  the  lines, 
and  returned  just  at  night,  with  some  of  the  clay  from  the 
"blow-up,"  with  which  he  made  pipes,  which  were  in  great 
demand  at  that  time,  and  especlially  pipes  made  of  "blow 
up"  clay,  as  we  called  it.  The  reader  will  no  doubt  under 
stand  that  it  was  clay  from  the  mine  General  Grant  blew 
up.  Next  day  I  had  Irving  regularly  mustered  into  the 
Confederate  service,  and  he  became  as  one  of  us. 

By  this  time  my  superiors  in  office  (I  don't  know  that 
they  were  superiors  in  all  respects),  had  become  so  well  ac 
quainted  with  me  that  I  was  put  over  a  great  deal  of  the 
work  going  on  at  the  time. 

I  was  always  allowed  to  pick  my  own  men.  I  will  give 
the  names  of  some  I  always  chose:  Corporal  Southern,  of 
Greenville,  S.  C.;  Reagan,  William  and  Marion  Fowler, 
Johnson,  all  of  SpartanburgJ;  Elijah  Hatcher,  Hill,  Samuel 
Harris  and  Bearden,  of  Anderson;  Joel  Crisp  and  McDuffy 
Stone,  of  Laurens,  two  Griffin  brothers,  Donaldson,  Dear- 
son  (a  German),  all  from  the  lower  part  of  South  Cai-olina ; 
Lewis  Jones,  of  North  Carolina  and  my  son,  with  a  good 
many  others  I  cannot  remember  at  this  late  d*y,  but  I 
must  not  forget  to  mention  Taylor,  of  Spartanburg,  for 
he  was  my  right  hand  man. 

At  the  time  of  Irving's  arrival  I  was  engaged  in  getting 
timber  for  cheraux  de  freize  obstructions  to  put  in  front  of 
our  lines  to  prevent  or  delay  a  cavalry  charge.  They  wjre 
also  greatly  in  the  way  of  an  infantry  charge.  About  this 
time  Captain  Bruce,  who  was  countermining  at  Peters 
burg,  wanted  me  to  come  and  help  him.  Captain  Robinson 
acted  the  gentleman,  and  gave  me  my  choice  of  going  or 
remaining  with  him.  I  remained. 

I  could  not  forsake  my  own  captain  and  the  boy  I  had 
brought  there,  and  go  to  another  company,  although 
there  was  not  a  man  in  the  service  I  thought  more  of  than 
of  Captain  Bruce. 

The  boys  who  went  with  me  treated  me  like  a  father, 
and  I  did  all  I  could  for  them.  If  any  of  those  boys  read 


122  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

this  page,  will  they  be  glad  to  hear  from  their  old  ser 
geant  ? 

About  this  time  I  was  sent  as  an  engineer  officer  to  at 
tend  to  the  altering  of  our  lines,  at  Battery  Forty-Five, 
a  little  south  of  Petersburg,  and  although  I  did  not  pro^ 
fess  to  be  a  regular  engineer,  I  could  see  that  I  was  taken 
for  such.  The  infantry  officers  who  were  along  always- 
consulted  with  me  about  the  work  but  I  managed  to  get 
their  opinions  before  I  delivered  my  own,  and  in  that  way 
got  along  all  right.  I  expect  to  this  day,  if  any  of  them 
are  living,  they  think  I  was  a  regular  engineer  of  high 
standing.  We  shortened  our  lines  in  front  of  Battery 
Forty-Five  and  I  returned  to  camp. 

About  this  time  it  became  necessary  to  build  a  pontoon 
bridge  above  Petersburg,  as  the  enemy  were  continually 
shelling  the  public  bridges  in  Petersburg.  So  after  cutting 
a  new  road,  we  (my  company),  put  in  two  pontoon 
bridges  across  the  Appomattox  river,  one  of  them  just 
above  Petersburg,  the  other  about  a  mile  above.  Our 
army  at  the  time  was  crossing  and  recrossing  continually 
and  a  regular  bombardment  was  going  on  day  and  night 
along  our  lines. 

Just  before  we  moved  over  to  our  bridges,  a  little  drove 
of  beeves  passed  our  camp.  General  Hampton  had  gotten 
around  to  the  rear  of  the  enemy's  lines  and  taken  them 
from  Abraham's  bosom.  There  were  twenty-five  hundred 
of  them,  all  fine  steers.  Irving  looked  at  them  until  his 
eyes  watered,  and  his  mouth  too,  I  reckon.  I  know  mine 
did. 

The  first  night  after  we  got  to  our  new  camp  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Appomattox  river  it  rained  in  torrents 
all  night.  I  sent  Irving  to  a  house  near  by  and  told  him 
to  remain  there  all  night.  I  then  stretched  up  rny  oil 
cloth,  as  I  had  often  done  before,  and  lay  down  under  it  as 
best  I  could.  I  had  been  there  but  a  few  minutes  when  he 
returned  saying  that  he  could  not  get  room  in  the  house. 
I  got  up  and  forced  him  to  take  my  place  under  the  oil 
cloth,  and  I,  with  many  others,  remained  up  all  night  in 
the  rain.  We  tried  to  keep  a  fire,  but  it  rained  so  hard 


South  Carolina  Volunteers,  123 

we  could  not  make  the  wood  burn.  This  was  in  October. 
Remember  these  things,  ye  that  are  dressed  in  purple 
and  fine  linen  and  fare  sumptuously  every  day.  The 
writer  of  these  things,  old  and  decrepid,  has  no  place  he 
can  call  his  home. 

Oil  that  I  had  a  bosom  friend 

To  tell  my  sorrows  to, 
In  whose  advice  I  might  depend 

In  everything  I  do. 

How  do  I  wonder  up  and  down, 

And  no  one  pities  me ; 
I  seern  a  stranger,  quite  unknown, 

A  child  of  misery. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

I  went  immediately  to  work  digging  a  out  a  place  on  a 
steep  bank  ten  feet  square,  and  put  the  plates  of  my  cabin 
on  top  of  the  ground.  I  managed  to  get  boards  to  cover 
it,  and  then  Irving  and  I  had  a  good  warm  place  to  stay. 
Just  before  this  one  of  my  company  had  died  and  left  me 
a  bedtick.  We  filled  it  with  dry  grass,  and  then  we  had  a 
house  and  a  bed  to  sleep  upon,  but  no  glass  windows  or 
curtains.  We  now  thought  ourselves  in  St.  John's  third 
story,  when  in  fact  we  were  only  in  the  cellar,  where  I 
fear  a  great  many  others  are  who  think  they  are  in  the 
garret. 

From  this  time  on  my  comyany  kept  up  and  guarded 
both  the  pontoon  bridges  across  the  Appomattox  river. 
When  on  guard  I  was  always  officer  of  the  guard.  I  took 
it  by  turns  first  at  the  upper  bridge  and  then  at  the  lower 
one.  It  was  the  rule  that  when  a  sentinel  wanted  instruc 
tions  of  any  kind  they  would  call  out,  " Officer  of  the 
guard,"  etc.  We  kept  a  sentinel  at  each  end  of  the  bridge. 
It  was  a  little  amusing  to  us  all  to  hear  Irving  call  out, 
**Papa,  come  here,"  but  nevertheless  it  was  quite  natural. 
He  was  the  youngest  in  the  regiment,  and  was  allowed  to 


124  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

do  pretty  much  as  he  pleased,  which  he  is  doing  yet. 
After  he  came  to  Virginia  I  fared  a  little  better  for  provis 
ions  than  I  had  been  doing,  as  he  was  always  on  the  run 
when  not  on  guard,  trading  about  and  getting  something 
to  eat,  when  I  could  not  have  gotten  it  if  I  had  tried.  His 
being  so  young,  the  ladies  about  Etrix  and  Petersburg 
would  divide  any  provisions  they  had  with  him.  Etrix  is 
a  factory  town  just  above  Petersburg  and  in  sight  of  our 
camp. 

I  gave  him  $50  one  day,  with  wrhich  he  bought  a  bushel 
of  sweet  potatoes,  which  he  sold  at  $  1  each.  They  were 
small  potatoes  at  that,  being  about  the  size  of  snake 
roots.  He  borrowed  a  double-barreled  shotgun  from  a, 
citizen,  with  which  he  killed  a  great  many  robbins,  which 
he  sold  at  f  1  each. 

One  day,  on  Sunday,  he  was  on  guard  at  the  upper 
bridge  without  me.  Lee's  army  got  after  a  wild  turkey. 
It  flew  over  into  an  island  a  short  distance  above  the 
bridge,  and  so  Lee's  army  \vas  outflanked  and  retreated 
in  good  order.  After  they  had  gone  Irving  took  an  extra 
pontoon  boat  we  always  kept  on  hand,  went  up  and  killed 
it.  He  shot  it  with  his  musket  standing  in  the  boat,  amid 
tremendous  applause.  As  he  brought  it  down  to  me  to 
camp  he  was  offered  $75  for  it.  I  let  Captain  Robinson 
have  part  of  it  for  some  flour,  and  at  dinner  I  had  turkey 
and  dumplings,  a  thing  I  knew  Irving  was  very  found  of. 
When  he  came  to  dinner  he  ate  with  a  tremendous  relish, 
and  so  did  I.  We  also  caught  a  good  many  fish. 

One  night,  and  as  cold  a  night,  by  the  way,  as  I  ever 
saw,  just  before  morning.  Donaldson,  who  was  on  guard 
at  the  end  of  the  bridge  next  to  where  I  was,  fell  into  the 
river,  breaking  the  ice  as  he  went  plunging  into  the  water. 
I  went  and  helped  him  out.  Reader,  did  you  ever  see  a 
drowned  rat  ?  If  you  have  you  would  know  how  he  looked. 
He  swore  that  he  had  not  been  asleep,  but  I  think  he  had. 
I  offered  to  put  a  man  in  his  place  until  he  had  time  to 
change  his  clothes,  but  he  refused.  1  am  of  the  opinion 
he  could  not  change  them  for  the  fact  that  he  had  none  to 
change. 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  125 

Heavy  firing  all  along  the  lines  now.  The  armies  still 
moving  back  and  forth.  This  crossing  and  recrossing  of 
our  bridges  has  enabled  me  to  become  more  or  less  ac 
quainted  with  all  our  generals,  from  General  Lee  down, 
Lee  himself  having  his  headquarters  near  our  upper 
bridge.  On  one  occasion  I  was  on  duty  at  the  upper 
bridge,  and  in  the  evening  I  received  an  order  directly  from 
General  Lee  to  double  my  guard  that  night,  and  to  send 
word  for  them  to  do  the  same  at  the  other  bridge,  and  for 
me  to  put  a  man  on  post  at  the  Petersburg  side  of  the 
bridge  whom  I  could  depend  upon,  and  to  give  him  the 
following  instrcutions :  That  if  a  crowd  of  men  came 
to  cross  the  bridge  without  proper  papers  from  him 
to  fire  off  his  gun  and  get  out  of  the  way,  at  which 
signal  I  was  to  form  my  men  in  front  of  the  bridge  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river  and  commence  firing.  A  brigade 
of  our  men.  it  was  reported  to  General  Lee,  had  threat 
ened  to  take  possession  of  our  commissary  department, 
which  was  on  this  side  of  the  river.  The  officer  who 
bi  ought  me  this  order  took  my  name  and  rank,  so  that  if 
I  did  not  do  my  duty  it  would  be  known  who  to  blame. 

I  sent  a  note  to  my  superiors  at  camp  and  informed 
them  of  the  order,  and  the  other  men  I  needed  were  sent 
me  just  at  night.  The  same  thing  was  done  at  the  lower 
bridge.  What  I  disliked  most  was  that  it  was  my  own 
men  I  had  to  fight,  if  I  had  to  fight  at  all.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  if  they  had  been  the  enemy  I  would  not  have 
minded  it  half  so  much. 

Irving  was  with  us  at  the  time.  I  omitted  to  say  that 
we  were  not  to  sleep  and  were  to  keep  our  arms  in  order, 
and  to  remain  with  them  in  our  hands. 

About  9  o'clock  (Taylor,  of  Spartanburg,  being  on 
post)  we  heard  a  big  crowd  coming  over  the  bridge.  Had 
Taylor  fired  ?  My  men  were  all  excitement,  but  formed  in 
front  of  the  bridge  as  directed,  and  wanted  to  fire.  I  cried 
out  at  the  top  of  my  voice,  "Withhold  your  fire  !"  I  also 
cried  out  to  the  approaching  crowd,  "Halt !"  They  did 
so.  I  ran  and  met  them  on  the  bridge.  They  had  the 
right  kind  of  papers  and  were  going  to  guard  thecommis- 


126  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

sary  department.  If  Taylor  had  been  a  fool,  or  if  I  had 
acted  unwisely,  what  trouble  we  would  have  had,  but  Tay 
lor  had  done  his  duty,  and  I  had  tried  to  do  mine. 
Nothing  happened  through  the  night.  Next  morning  at 
daybreak  the  crowd  went  back  and  reported  to  General 
Lee  how  it  had  been  the  night  before.  That  morning,  be 
fore  my  time  was  out  on  guard,  General  Lee  sent  an  order, 
or  rather,  a  request  to  me,  asking  me  to  remain  as  officer 
of  the  guard  another  day  and  night,  stating  that  I  had 
acted  praiseworthily  the  night  before,  and  if  1  remained 
another  term  I  then  might  rest  several  days.  I  was  to 
double  my  guard  again  at  night.  My  men  were  relieved 
that  morning  at  8  o'clock,  but  I  remained  another  term. 
I  doubled  my  guard  again  that  night  but  nothing  occurred 
to  disturb  us. 

After  we  put  in  those  two  pontoon  bridges  my  company 
did  little  else  but  guard  and  attend  them.  Two  of  our 
companies  were  at  Chafin's  Bluff,  attending  the  pontoon 
bridge  across  the  James  river  at  that  place.  The  balance 
of  our  regiment  was  employed  first  at  one  thing  and  then 
at  another,  scarcely  ever  all  being  at  the  same  place.  Col 
onel  Talcott's  headquarters,  however,  were  with  us,  where 
some  of  the  other  companies  generally  camped.  None  of 
them  ever  had  anything  to  do  with  the  bridges  but  the 
company  to  which  I  belonged.  We  had  some  dreadful 
times  when  the  river  would  be  up,  getting  in  the  water  very 
often  to  work  on  the  abutments  of  the  bridge. 

General  Lee  and  Colonel  Talcott  seemed  to  be  on  very 
intimate  terms,  as  they  were  often  seen  together,  riding 
around  and  viewing  the  situation. 

As  I  was  not  engaged  in  any  of  the  almost  daily  fight 
ing  now  going  on,  I  shall  not  attempt  a  description  of 
them.  Any  old  soldier  who  took  part  in  them  can  tell  you 
more  about  them  than  I  shall  undertake  to  do,  as  my 
duties  at  this  time  did  not  call  me  to  the  front.  I  will  only 
say  that  an  almost  continual  firing  was  going  on.  The 
artillery  duels  that  were  frequently  fought  were  truly  ter 
rific.  Hundreds  of  cannon,  loading  and  firing  as  fast  as 
it  was  possible  to  be  done.  Nothing  in  comparison  to  it 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  127 

was  ever  known  in  America  or  perhaps  elsewhere,  and  I  do 
sincerely  hope  that  the  like  may  never  be  heard  again.  It 
continued  until  the  end. 

I  shall  now  only  give  the  reader  a  few  facts  that  came 
under  my  own  observation  and  end  my  narrative,  leaving 
it  for  more  able  pens  than  my  own  to  portray  the  bloody 
reign  of  terror  around  Petersburg,  Virginia,  in  1864  and 
1865. 

\  will  now  go  back  to  my  pontoon  bridges  and  see 
what  is  going  on  there,  which  I  will  tell  you  of  in  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

In  January,  1865,  as  some  of  my  readers  will  recollect, 
there  came  a  powerful  freshet  in  the  Appomattox  river. 
When  the  river  was  at  its  height  eleven  of  my  men,  all  re 
cruits  of  mine,  took  a  boat  over  to  an  island  for  firewood. 
While  there  a  dam,  which  had  been  built  for  military  pur 
poses  on  a  small  stream  emptying  just  above  the  island, 
containing  a  large  quantity  of  water,  gave  way,  and  the 
river  being  already  very  high,  it  became  alarming  for  the 
men  on  the  island.  They  became  panic-stricken  and  at 
tempted  to  come  back  to  land.  The  boat  was  capsized 
and  three  of  them  were  drowned,  Hill,  of  Anderson  county, 
William  Fowler,  of  Spartanburg,  and  Dierson,  a  German, 
from  near  Charleston.  A  few  days  after,  when  the  river 
had  fallen  and  everything  frozen,  I  was  going  to  my 
breakfast  down  the  river,  when  I  came  across  Irving  drag 
ging  the  body  of  Hill  across  a  little  frozen  pond  on  the  ice. 
He  had  been  found  clinched  to  a  bush.  His  countenance 
had  a  terrorized  expression,  as  though  he  had  been  crying. 
I  sent  help  and  had  him  taken  to  camp.  On  the  same  day 
Sergeant  Graham  and  Irving  found  Fowler  also.  I  had 
decent  coffins  made  and  attended  to  their  burial.  Dierson 
was  never  found. 


128  History  of  the  fourth  Regiment 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Dear  reader,  I  am  now  approaching  the  time 

"When  wild  war's  deadly  blast  was  blown, 

And  gentle  peace  returning, 
And  eyes  again  wiah  pleasure  beamed 

That  had  been  bleared  with  mourning," 

1  will  now  mention  how  I  got  off  from  Virginia  and  the 
closing  of  the  war,  and  I  will  then  be  done  with  my  nar- 
ative  of  the  war,  and  all  I  intend  writing. 

As  before  stated,  I  was  entitled  to  a  thirty  day's  fur 
lough  for  getting  Irving  as  a  recruit  in  the  Confederate 
service. 

About  the  last  of.  January,  1865,  I  called  for  my  fur 
lough.  It  was  duly  written  out  and  signed  by  Ca.ptain 
Robinson  and  Colonel  Talcott  and  sent  up  to  General  Lee, 
who  sent  it  back  not  approved,  with  a  few  lines  to  me 
which  read  about  as  follows  : 

Sergeant  Reid,  Co.  K,  First  Regiment  Engineer  Troops: 
Did  you  or  your  officers  know  that  the  order  for  granting 
furloughs  for  recruits  had  been  rescinded,  or  did  you  get  the 
recruit  in  good  faith,  expecting  a  furlough  ? 

(Signed)  R.  E.  LEE,  General. 

My  officers  and  myself  replied  to  General  Lee's  note  that 
none  of  us  were  aware  that  the  order  was  delayed,  much 
less  rescinded,  and  that  the  recruit  Avas  gotten  last  fall,  in 
good  faith  expecting  a  furlough.  General  Lee  then  sent  it 
back  approved,  with  another  note  which  read  about  as 
lows : 

Sergeant  Reid,  Co.  K,  First  Regiment  Engineer  Troops : 
If  you  or  your  officers  know  of  any  others  of  your  regi 
ment  who  got  recruits  in  good  faith  expecting  a  furlough, 
let  them  send  them  to  headquarters  and  I  will  sign  them. 
(Signed)  R.  E.  LEE,  General. 

The  original  order  for  granting  furloughs  for  recruits 
also  allowed  transportation.  When  I  wept  to  the  trans 
portation  office  they  refused  me  transportation,  because, 
they  said,  the  order  had  been  rescinded  granting  such 


South  Carolina  Volunteers.  129 

furloughs,  and  all  the  arguments  I  could  use  did  no  good, 
I  took  my  furlough  and  went  up  to  Oeeneral  Lee's  head 
quarters.  He  sent  an  order  to  the  office  authorizing'  them 
to  give  me  transportation.  General  Lee  asked  me  if  I  had 
shown  the  men  at  the  transportation  office  the  note  he 
sent  me  in  regard  to  other  soldiers  getting  furloughs  in  the 
same  way  I  had  done.  I  told  him  I  had.  He  remarked, 
"They  ought  to  have  given  you  transportation  without 
putting  you  to  this  trouble,"  This  was  the  last  time  I 
ever  saw  General  Lee. 

I  got  my  transportation  and  returned  to  camp  after 
night.  I  was  officer  of  the  guard  that  night,  so  as  to  en 
able  me  to  remain  at  home  a  day  longer. 

I  cannot  express  my  feelings  as  1  left  my  boy  at  camp 
that  night.  I  went  around  and  bid  Captain  Robinson  and 
all  the  boys,  as  it  turned  out  to  be,  a  last  farewell.  Next 
morning  at  6  o'clock  I  put  Corporal  Hays  in  my  place, 
boarded  the  train  and  bid  an  everlasting  farewell  to  Old 
Virginia  and  to  the  remains  of  the  glorious  old  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  and  to  all  my  army  associations,  and 
started  homeward  once  more. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ISJo  more  shall  the  sound  of  the  war  whoop  be  heard. 
The  anguish  and  slaughter  no  longer  be  feared  ; 
The  tomahawk  buried  shall  rest  in  the  ground, 
And  peace  and  good  will  to  our  nation  abound, 

As  I  have  before  stated,  I  did  not  attempt  to  write  a 
history  of  the  war,  but  only  of  the  regiment  to  which  I 
belonged.  Nevertheless,  I  have  written  facts  which  can 
not  be  successfully  contradicted.  I  may  have  made  a  few- 
mistakes  in  my  description  of  some  of  our  movements,  but 
if  so  they  are  few  and  far  between.  I  do  not  doubt  but 
that  I  have  given  as  true  a  statement  of  things  which 
came  under  my  observation  as  will  be  given  by  any  one, 
and  especially  by  one  who  was  in  no  higher  position  than 


130  History  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 

I  was,  and  the  future  historian  can  depend  upon  most  of 
my  statements.  I  at  all  times  gave  facts  as  correctly  as 
my  limited  chances  would  permit.  In  giving  my  state 
ment  of  the  first  fight  at  Manassas  on  July  21,  1861,  I 
know  that  I  am  correct  in  the  number  of  troops  present 
when  the  attack  was  made,  namely,  the  Fourth  South 
Carolina  regiment  and  Wheat's  Battalion  of  Louisianians. 
In  fact,  in  describing  all  the  battles  in  which  I  participated 
I  did  all  in  my  power  to  state  nothing  but  facts,  and  I  did 
the  same  in  my  description  of  our  travels,  privations  and 
hardships.  In  some  of  my  anecdotes  I  may  have  put  on 
some  paint,  but  not  so  in  our  travels,  battles,  etc. 

When  I  left  camp  I  left  with  a  heavy  heart,  for  I  did  not 
believe  I  would  ever  get  back  to  Virginia.  I  knew  that  the 
end  had  about  come. 

I  got  home  all  right,  but  Sherman's  army,  getting  be 
tween  me  and  Virginia,  I  did  not  <ro  back. 

My  readers  are  all  familiar  with  the  surrender  of  Lee.  I 
will  therefore  say  nothing  about  it  here.  My  son  was  at 
the  surrender,  and  that  very  day  he  took  the  measles  and 
was  carried  back  by  the  enemy  from  Appomattox  to 
Petersburg.  After  remaining  there  a  few  days  he 
was  removed  ty  Farmville.  where  he  remained  until 
until  he  was  sent  home,  where  he  arrived  on  the  20th  day 
of  May,  1865.  We  had  mourned  him  as  dead,  as  we  could 
not  hear  what  had  become  of  him  after  the  surrender. 

I  am  now  through  with  my  war  record.  I  could  have 
given  an  account  of  a  great  many  incidents  which  occurred 
during  the  war,  but  I  think  what  I  have  written  is  suffi 
cient. 

The  brave,  poor  soldier  ne'er  despise, 

Or  count  him  as  a  stranger ; 
Remember,  he's  his  country's  stay 

In  the  day  and  hour  of  danger, 

THE  END. 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  the  Author. 


CHAPTER  I. 

On  the  5th  day  of  February,  1824,  I  was  born  in  what 
was  then  Pendleton  District,  South  Carolina,  in  the  por 
tion  now  known  as  Oconee  county.  My  father,  Reuben 
Reid,  was  a  schoolteacher  and  survey  or  by  profession.  He 
was  born  August  22,  1785,  which  was  but  a  few  years 
after  his  father,  Joseph  Reid,  had  moved  from  Virginia, 
where  he  was  raised. 

He  was,  I  think,  of  Scottish  descent.  My  father's  mother 
was  also  raised  in  Virginia,  and  was  a  cousin  to  Andrew 
Jackson,  who  was  twice  president  of  the  United  States.  1 
remember  hearing  my  father  speak  of  four  brothers  of  his 
— George,  Joseph,  Jesse  and  Blincoe.  I  never  knew  any  of 
them  except  George,  the  eldest  brother.  He  and  his  chil 
dren  are  all  dead.  My  father  also  had  three  sisters,  but  I 
have  never  seen  them.  One  of  them  married  a  man  named 
Beard. 

My  father  in  his  young  days  traveled  about  a  great  deal, 
teaching  school  and  surveying  land.  He  taught  school 
not  only  in  South  Carolina,  but  in  North  Carolina  and 
Tennessee. 

During  the  war  of  1812  he  enlisted  (I  think  at  Greenville 
Courthouse),  and  went  into  the  service  of  the  United 
States  armv.  When  he  had  served  out  his  term  of  eighteen 

«•  O 

months  he  received  an  honorable  discharge  from  the  army 
and  started  home,  somewhere  about  the  mountains,  but 
when  he  got  within  fifteen  miles  of  home  he  heard  of  the 
death  of  his  father,  and  he  turned  back  with  the  intention 
of  going  to  Charleston,  but  on  the  way  he  stopped 
one  night  in  Newberry  District  with  a  man  named  Boyd, 
who  persuaded  my  father  to  put  up  a  school  in  his  neigh 
borhood,  which  he  consented  to  do.  A  very  large  school 
was  soon  made  up  for  him  and  he  went  to  teaching.  While 
teaching  in  this  neigborhood  he  first  saw  my  mother.  My 


132  Sketch. 


mother's  grand  parent  had  come  from  Germany  when 
her  father  and  mother  were  children,  and  settled  in  what 
was  known  as  Dutch  Fork,  between  Saluda  and  Broad 
rivers,  on  Cannon's  creek.  A  good  many  other  German 
families  also  settled  in  the  same  neighborhood,  among 
whom  were  the  Cramers,  the  Wickers,  the  Subers,the  Kin- 
ards,  the  Kestlers,  the  Eiohelbergers  and  many  others. 

My  mother  was  a  Dickert.  Her  father  had  died  when  she 
was  smalt,  leaving  her  and  three  brothers,  Michael,  Adam 
and  Henry.  All  of  them  have  long  since  died.  My  grand 
mother  afterwards  married  Simon  Wicker,  a  widower  with 
five  or  six  children. 

As  I  have  said,  my  father,  while  in  the  Boyd  settlement, 
first  saw  my  mother.  She  was-  then  staying  with  an  uncle 
of  hers  named  George  Stackman,  a  preacher,  who  lived  in 
the  Boyd  Settlement,  as  it  was  called.  I  omitted  to  state 
that  rny  mother  was  born  in  the  year  1800. 

Somewhere  in  this  neighborhood  my  father  and  mother 
were  married  at  a  camp  meeting  on  August  10,  1816. 

My  father  had  wandered  about  a  great  deal  in  his  young 
days,  and  it  seemed  to  be  natural  with  him  to  continue 
this  practice  as  long  as  he  lived.  I  do  not  know 
where  he  was  living  when  my  eldest  sister,  Lu- 
cinda,  was  born,  but  that  momentous  event  occurred  in 
1819r  and  in  1821  my  next  oldest  sister,  Matilda,  was 
born,  and  by  the  time  I  was  born  we  had  gotten  around 
to  Pendleton  District,  as  above  stated.  We  were  still  in 
Pendleton,  though  not  at  the  same  place  when  my  sister 
Zillah  Elizabeth  was  born,  July  25th,  1826,  near  what 
was  called  Rock  Spring  church,  on  Coueross  creek. 

My  very  farthest  recollection  commences  about  this 
time,  I  cannot  remember  when  1  fintt  began  to  go  to 
school,  as  my  father  often  carried  me  to  school  in  his  arms; 
before  my  recollection.  As  I  was  his  only  son  he  took, 
great  pains  to  train  me. 

I  can  say  what  1  presume  few  others  can  say,  that  is? 
that  1  have  no  recollection  Avhatever  of  when  I  learned  to 
to  read  and  write.  My  first  recollection  of  my  schooling 
is  when  I  began  to  cypher  in  arithmetic,  and  I  was  then 


Sketch.  133 


quite  young.  I  can  well  remember  when  my  father  used 
to  go  to  Old  Peudleton  for  examination  as  a  teacher  and 
to  get  his  public  money.  He  did  his  trading  with  a  Mr. 
Cherry.  He  also  went  to  Columbia  once  in  every  four 
years  to  have  his  license  renewed  as  a  surveyor. 

When  I  was  about  six  years  old  we  moved  to  Newberry 
again  and  my  father  taught  school  for  awhile  a  short  dis- 
tmice  below  Stony  Batter  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Lindsays,  the  Waits',  the  Wise's  and  Harmon's.  After  re 
maining  there  a  few  years  he  moved  a  few  miles  to  a  ferry 
on  Saluda  river,  known  as  Lee's  ferry.  Here  we  remained 
for  about  two  years,  my  father  attending  to  the  ferry  and 
keeping  a  public  house  for  traveling  men  and  drovers.  It 
was  while  here  that  my  youngest  sister,  Zillah,  and  my 
self  commenced  rabbit  hunting,  fishing  and  climbing  for 
muscadines,  which  we  kept  up  for  some  time  afterwards. 
She  was  just  the  same  as  a  brother  to  me.  We  would  ride 
canes  and  call  them  horses,  ride  up  and  hitch  our  steeds 
to  the  fence,  and  feel  a  good  deal  larger  than  we  have 
ever  felt  since.  We  used  to  go  into  the  piney  wood  and 
whip  pine  trees  for  negroes,  the  accusation  against  one 
and  all  being  that  we  caught  them  stealing  10,000  barrels 
of  flour — a  pretty  good  load. 

While  living  at  this  place  a  man  called  to  stay  all  night. 
My  father  let  him  stay,  but  was  not  acquainted  with  him. 
He  had  come  on  foot.  He  was  up  early  the  next  morning 
and  walked  down  to  theflatboat  landing.  Just  afterward 
my  father  started  down  toward  the  landing  and  saw  the 
man  go  out  to  the  hind  end  of  the  flat.  When  my  father 
reached  the  landing  he  could  see  nothing  of  the  man.  His 
hat  was  lying  in  the  boat. 

My  father  sent  me  around  to  inform  the  neighbors  on 
the  Edgefield  side  of  the  river  and  he  went  on  the  New- 
berry  side  to  inform  the  neighbors.  The  hat  was  left  where 
it  was  in  the  boat.  A  large  crowd  soon  gathered  and 
about  1  o'clock  he  was  gotten  out.  It  was  found  that  he 
had  filled  his  bosom  and  pockets  with  rocks  weighing 
wenty -eight  pounds.  There  were  several  men  present 
who  knew  the  man.  His  name  was  W.  H.  Tyler,  of  New- 


134  Sketch. 


berry  Courthouse.  The  cause  of  the  suicide  was  not  known. 

These  were  the  days  of  nullification.  And  the  great  me 
teoric  shower  called  the  falling  of  the  stars  occurring, 
caused  great  revivals  in  the  churches  for  a  short  time. 

After  remaining  at  Lee's  ferry  for  two  years  we  moved 
up  to  within  five  miles  of  Newberry  Courthouse,  and  my 
father  put  up  a  school  in  the  settlement  of  the  Chapmans, 
the  Shepherds,  Boozers  and  others.  While  here  I  went 
with  my  father  to  Newberry.  A  negro  had  been  hung  there 
for  beating  a  man  named  Igenor,  and  the  doctors  had  his 
body  dissecting  it.  But  of  this  I  was  in  blissful  ignorance. 
My  father  had  some  business  with  one  of  the  doctors, 
and  called  at  the  office  to  see  him,  and  I  at  his  heels,  as 
usual.  When  the  door  was  opened  and  I  got  a  glimpse  of 
that  negro  !  1  left  father's  heels  and  my  own  carried  me 
away  at  the  rate  of  ten  knots  an  hour.  No  chuckle- 
headed  youngster  was  ever  worse  scared. 


CHAPTER  II. 

From  this  place  we  moved  down  on  Cannon's  creek,  in 
the  Dutch  fork,  not  far  from  my  grandmother's.  At  this 
time  nullification  was  at  its  height.  I  remember  going 
with  my  father  to  a  barbecue  at  a  place  called  Rumley 
Hill.  A  great  many  speeches  were  made,  all  in  favor  of 
nullification.  A  cavalry  company  mustered  there  that 
day,  commanded  by  Captain  H.  H.  Kinard,  afterwards 
General  Kinard. 

From  Dutch  fork  we  moved  up  into  Abbeville  county, 
near  Double  Bridges,  on  Rocky  river,  and  there  my  father 
taught  another  school  on  the  Harleston  place,  and  here 
we  were  at  the  time  of  the  noted  cold  Saturday  in  1835. 
We  remained  here  some  time  and  then  moved  up  into  the 
edge  of  Anderson  county,  on  Hen  Coop  creek,  remained  a 
short,  time  and  moved  to  old  Laurens  factory,  on  Big 
Rabun  creek,  in  Laurens  county.  We  children  went  into 
the  cotton  factory  to  work  and  my  father  went  in  the 
grist  mill.  When  we  had  worked  about  three  months  the 
factory  burned  down. 


Sketch.  135 


My  father  then  put  up  a  school  near  the  burnt  factory, 
and  I  worked  with  the  Messrs.  Whites  at  building  a  new 
factory,  which  was  finished,  but  they  never  got  machinery 
in  it,  and  the  Whites  moved  away,  Robert  White  to 
Georgia  and  William  to  Mississippi. 

While  living  at  Burnt  Factory  my  mother  gave  birth  to 
another  son  on  the  7th  of  April,  1837.  On  the  night  of 
the  24th  of  December  in  the  same  year,  my  father  died 
from  an  attack  of  choking  quinsy,  after  an  illness  of  two 
days. 

At  my  father's  death  we  were  left  in  rather  a  bad  condi 
tion—the  family  all  girls  except  the  baby  and  myself,  and 
I  was  too  young  to  attend  to  business. 

Before  proceeding  any  further  I  will  state  that  I  never 
went  to  school  after  my  father's  death,  but  went  regularly 
to  work  from  that  time  on. 

After  father's  death  my  mother  consulted  with  the  neigh 
bors  as  to  what  would  be  the  best  thing  for  her  to  do 
under  the  circumstances  in  which  she  was  left. 

She  was  advised  to  go,  if  she  could  do  so,  to  a  cotton 
factory.  Accordingly,  my  oldest  sister  and  myself  went 
to  the  Reedy  river  factory  in  Greenville,  owned  by  Yardry 
McBee,  and  very  readily  made  arrangements  with  Colonel 
Leonard  Allen,  superintendent  of  the  factory,  to  move 
there  immediately. 

Accordingly  we  moved  in  March,  1838. 


CHAPTER  III. 

When  I  first  moved  to  Reedy  River  factory  and  for  some 
time  afterwards,  the  factory  ran  day  and  night,  having 
two  sets  of  hands,  who  relieved  each  other  at  mid-day  and 
mid-night.  My  sister  and  I  were  what  were  called  morn 
ing  hands.  Wre  went  to  work  at  midnight  and  worked 
until  mid-day.  I  have  often  gone  to  sleep  standing  upon 
my  feet. 

This  same  spring  my  mother  was  taken  sick  with  fever, 
and  my  little  brother,  Reuben  C.  Reid,  then  a  little  over  a 


136  Sketch. 


year  old,  had  to  be  weaned.  With  the  fever  rny  mother 
took  an  internal  disease  with  which  she  died  fourteen 
years  afterwards.  I  have  known  my  mother's  condition  to 
be  such  that  for  a  year  at  a  time  she  was  unable  to  leave 
the  house.  There  is  no  telling  what  that  jrood  woman 
suffered  for  fourteen  years. 

In  1839  rny  oldest  sister,  Lucinda,  married  Edward  Mc 
Carthy,  and  moved  to  Greenville  Courthouse,  while  we 
moved  to  a  small  factory  on  South  Tyger  river  called 
Hut-chins'  Factory,  owned  in  part  by  Rev.  Thomas 
Hutching,  an  Englishman  by  birth  and  the  most  talented 
preacher  (of  the  Methodist  denomination),  I  ever  knew. 
In  about  eight  months  after  moving  there  the  owners  of 
the  factory  disagreed  and  the  factory  shut  down  and  was 
afterwards  sold.  When  this  occurred  w-e  moved  back  to 
Greenville,  to  a  paper  mill  owned  by  Andrew  Patterson. 

The  paper  mill  was  only  one  mile  above  the  Reedy  River 
factory. 

In  the  year  1840  my  sister  and  her  husband  separated 
and  she  came  home  to  us  again,  and  in  the  summer  of 
1840  her  daughter  was  bom,  who  is  now  living  at  Pied 
mont  factory,  the  wife  of  George  Brownan  and  the  mother 
of  eleven  children,  of  which  nine  are  living,  three  being- 
mar  ried. 

While  living  at  the  paper  mill  I  first  became  acquainted 
with  John  A.  Cargill.  a  son  of  Clement  Cargill.  The  man 
was  never  born  of  woman  whom  I  would  rather  be  with 
than  J.  A.  Cargill. 

After  remaining  at  the  paper  mill  about  two  years  the 
owner,  Mr.  Patterson,,  failed,  and  the  mill  had  to  be  sold. 
Patterson  moved  to  Missouri.  Bennijah  Dunham  bought 
the  mill. 

About  that  time  we  moved  back  to  the  McBee  factory, 
otherwise  called  the  Reedy  River  factory.  I  had  reached 
the  age  of  seventeen  years,  and  Leonard  Alien,. the  super 
intendent,  took  a  great  interest  in  me.  He  learned  me  all 
he  could  about  machinery,  and  treated  me  precisely  as  he 
did  his  own  son,  John,  who  was  one  year  younger. than  I. 
Unfortunately  forme,  after  a  year  or  .two  Mr.  Allen  died. 
He  was  next  thing  to  a  father  to  me. 


Sketch.  137 


For  a  while  they  got  first  one  and  then  another  incapa 
ble  man  to  run  the  factory.  I  ran  the  factory  and  they 
got  the  pay.  I  finally  grew  tired  of  this  and  went  to  the 
Pendleton  factory  in  December,  1843. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

As  I  have  stated,  I  moved  to  Pendleton  with  my  mother 
and  family  in  December,  1843.  To  attempt  to  tell  one- 
tenth  of  my  ups  and  downs  would  be  more  than  I  care 
about  undertaking. 

A  young  man  was  working  in  the  factory  whom  I  had 
worked  with  at  the  paper  mill  and  known  in  Laurens  when 
a  child,  named  Henry  Adkins,  and  another  one  on  the 
place  named  Thomas  Massey,  whom  I  had  also  known  in 
Laurens  and  Greenville,  together  with  myself,  cut  a  tre 
mendous  swell  around  about  the  old  Pendleton  factory  for 
about  two  years.  Massey  in  1845  married  Susan  Dickin 
son,  whom  I  had  worked  with  several  years.  She  is  now  a 
widow  living  at  Piedmont  with  her  son,  Benjamin  Massey, 
a  good  stone  mason.  I  do  not  know  what  eventually  be 
came  of  Adkins.  I  left  him  at  the  Pendleton  factory  in 
December,  1845. 

In  1845  I  became  of  age,  but  still  remained  with  my 
mother.  The  summer  of  that  year  was  known  as  the  dry 
summer.  The  factory  lost  a  great  deal  of  time  for  want  of 
water. 

I  took  several  trips  that  summer  up  on  Chauga  creek, 
where  I  had  lived  when  a  little  boy.  I  had  a  good  time 
with  the  boys  up  there  that  summer,  but  a  good  deal  bet- 
time  with  the  girls.  Some  of  them  came  to  Sandy  Springs 
campmeetings  that  fall,  and  there  I  had  a  still  better 
time.  Sandy  Springs  is  near  the  factory. 

I  moved  back  to  McBee  factory  in  December,  1845, 
being  gone  just  two  years.  I  went  to  work  in  the  factory 
again  and  also  to  looking  around  among  the  girls.  I  tell 
you  I  was  beginning  to  be  pretty  bad  among  the  girls  at 
that  time,  but  I  could  not  help  it. 


188  Sketch.. 


I  had  not  been  in  Greenville  long  when  I  found  the  only 
girl  I  ever  dearly  loved.  Her  father,  John  Tiipp.  had 
moved  to  the  Dunham  paper  mill  while  I  was  at  the  Pen- 
diet  on  factory. 

As  soon  as-  I  became  acquainted  with  Mary  Tnpp 
(always  called  Polly),  I  dropped  all  others,  as  E  soon 
found  that  my  future  destiny  was  In  her  hands.  I  became 
a  regular  visitor  at  her  father's  house,  and  it  was  not 
long  until  I  perceived  that  my  dear  little  Polly  was  think 
ing  well  of  me.  At  the  same  time,  my  friend  John  A.  Car- 
gill  was  courting  Polly  rs  sister,  Matilda. 

I  shall  not  allude  to  the  pleasure  we  four  young-  people 
have  had  together.  What  one  knew  all  knew,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  other  people  knew  something  about  it  too,, 
for  on  the  22d  of  October,  1846,  I  was  married  to  my  dar 
ling  Polly  by  Squire  Cox,  and  just  five  weeks  afterward 
friend  Cargill  was  married  to  Matilda  by  the  same  man. 

A  little  house  was  built  for  me  at  the  factory  and  I 
moved  into  it  with  my  wife.  If  ever  a  man  was  happy  on 
this  earth  I  was  that  man,  in  that  little  house  and  with 
that  little  woman. 

On  the  26th  day  of  October,  1847,  our  son  and  only- 
child,  Washington  Irving  Reid,  was  born.  After  remain- 
Ing  in  the  factory  another  year  I  left  it  and  went  to  work 
at  doing  stonework  with  J.  J.  Lewis,  who  had  recently 
married  my  sister  Matilda. 

About  this  time,  McCarthy  being  dead,  my  sister  Lucin- 
da  married  William  Smith. 

Mr.  Lewis  and  I  moved  down  on  Grove  creek,  In  the 
Charles  settlement.  We  worked  about  all  over  the  coun 
try,  and  in  Laurens,  Newberry  and  almost  everywhere, 
blasting  rock  principally. 

In  1849  we  got  a  large  job  of  work  to  do  in  Edgefield 
from  Adam  Eichelberger.  I  took  my  wife  with  me  there 
and  kept  her  with  me  for  several  months.  When  we  had 
finished  there  we  went  dack  into  Greenville,  where  we  had 
left  our  things  with  mother  and  Sister  Zillah,  who  was  yet 
unmarried. 


1S9 


After  coming  back  to  Greenville  I  left  Lewis  and  went  on 
•my  own  hook  through  Greenville,  Anderson,  Pickens,  Ab 
beville,  Laurens  and  .New berry,  working  at  raj  trade. 


CHAPTER  V, 

In  January,  1851,  having  so  much  work  to  do  In  New- 
berry,  I  took  my  wife  and  child  with  me  down  on  Broad 
river,  ten  miles  alcove  Alston,  which  was  then  being  built, 
•and  within  two  miles  of  where  my  mother  was  born  and 
raised.  I  remained  in  Newberry  for  two  years.  The  larg 
est  job  of  work  I  ever  did  for  one  man  was  for  David  Half- 
acre,  in  1852,  six  miles  below  Newberry  Courthouse  on  the 
Columbia  road.  This  was  the  year  of  the  great  August 
freshet.  I,  with  my  little  family,  sat  on  a^hill  and  watched 
the  surging  waters  rush  by  all  day  when  the  river  was  at 
its  height.  It  was  on  Sunday. 

In  the  latter  part  of  December,  1852,  I  moved  back  to 
Greenville,  in  sight  of  where  Pelzer  factory  now  stands. 

Sister  Zillah  had  that  year  married  Stephen  Hicks. 

I  remained  at  this  place  one  3  ear,  Avorking  around  as 
usual,  doing  a  great  deal  of  work  at  Williamston,  in  An 
derson  county,  just  about  that  time  being  built  up.  At 
that  time  the  Greenville  and  Columbia  railroad  was  being 
built. 

1  remained  here  one  year  and  moved  up  to  within  five 
miles  of  Greenville  and  one  mile  from  the  old  paper  mill 
where  my  wife's  father  still  lived,  as  w7as  also  my  friend  Car- 
gill,  bossing  the  paper  factory.  During  my  stay  of  four 
years  at  this  place  my  wife's  father,  John  Tripp,  died. 

I  still  followed  my  trade,  which  kept  me  the  greater  part 
of  my  time  away  from  home.  I  worked  a  great  deal  about 
Greenville  Courthouse,  for  Joab  Mauldin,  James  Benson, 
Dr.  Jones,  Thadeus  Bowling,  Colonel  T.  E.  Ware  and 
many  others.  I  also  blasted  out  the  well  at  the  Greenville 
poorhouse,  at  the  foot  of  Paris  mountain.  John  Black 
was  steward  at  the  time.  I  also  did  a  good  deal  of  work 
around  old  Pickensville,  Pendleton,  Cesar's  Head  and  else- 


140  Sketch. 


where. 

After  living  at  the  paper  mill  for  four  years,  as  I  have 
said,  I  returned  to  within  sight  of  Wilson's  bridge,  where 
Pelzer  now  is,  and  worked  about  as  usual. 

At  one  time  I  was  at  work  twelve  miles  below  Anderson 
Courthouse,  near  Holland's  store,  at  a  church  called  Shi- 
loh.  While  there  some  neighbors,  who  wanted  some  work 
done,  Colonel  Thomas  Parks,  Alexander  McClinton,  E.  J. 
Earle  and  others,  persuaded  me  to  move  over  into  the 
neighborhood.  Colonel  Parks  offered  to  move  me  and 
furnish  me  a  house.  I  moved  over  in  January,  1861,  and 
worked  about  in  the  neighborhood  until  April,  at  which 
time  1  went  to  Virginia  with  the  Fourth  Regiment  of 
South  Carolina  Volunteers.  Of  our  travels  and  hardships 
there  1  have  already  informed  you  as  best  I  could. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

This  day  be  peace  and  bread  my  lot, 

All  else  beneath  the  sun 
Thou  knowest  whether  best  bestowed  on  not, 

And  let  Thy  will  be  done. 

How  often  have  I  said  during  the  war  that  I  would 
thank  my  God  if  I  could  once  more  be  at  home  with  my 
little  family  and  a  piece  of  bread.  If  I  had  anything  more 
I  would  highly  appreciate  it,  but  if  not  I  could  be  happy. 

I  returned  home  to  my  family.  I  had  the  bread  ;  I  also 
had  plenty  of  other  things,  or  at  least  as  much  as  nature 
called  for.  I  was  once  more  a  free  and  happy  man. 

I  wenfc  to  work  at  my  trade  again,  doing  a  good  deal  of 
work  in  Hart  and  Franklin  county,  Ga.,  and  in  Greenville, 
S.  C.  After  two  or  three  years  I  got  to  doing- a  great  deal 
of  work  in  Elbert  county,  Ga.,  below  Elberton.  I  worked 
for  Robert  Hall,  William  Jones,  Jr.,  the  Heards,  the  Hern- 
dons,  Judge  Thomas,  William  Tate,  and  a  great  many 
others.  I  worked  more  or  less  in  Elbert  county  for  many 
years. 


Sketch.  141 


Two  or  three  years  after  the  war  my  wife  was  stricken 
with  inflammatory  rheumatism,  which  she  never  recovered 
from.  Her  illness  kept  me  a  great  deal  at  home.  I  would 
only  take  such  occasional  trips  as  necessity  compelled. 
About  this  time  my  son  was  married  to  Miss  Cora  McCoy, 
which  made  it  necessary  for  me  to  be  at  home  more  than 
ever.  In  a  year  or  two,  however,  she  got  a  good  deal  bet 
ter,  and  I  was  enabled  to  do  a  considerable  amount  of 
work.  A  time  or  two  I  attempted  to  make  a  little  crop  at 
home  in  the  season,  and  work  at  my  trade  in  the  fall  and 
winter  and  at  odd  times.  I  found  to  my  sorrow  that  I 
I  could  not  do  two  things  atone  time.  I  made  but  little 
at  home  and  less  elsewhere,  but  I  got  along  as  best  I  could 
until  April,  1889,  at  which  time  my  wife  again  became  ill 
and  I  remained  with  her  until  the  end. 

Those  were  dark  and  sorrowful  days.  She  lingered  until 
the  4th  day  of  November,  1889,  when  she  died,  perfectly 
in  her  right  mind  and  praising  God.  She  requested  her  son 
and  husband  to  meet  her  in  Heaven.  Thus  died  as  good 
a  mother,  as  true  a  wife  and  Christian  and  as  kind  a 
neighbor  as  has  ever  cheered  the  course  of  a  husband's 
life. 

My  dear  companion  snatched  away, 

And  I  am  left  alone, 
In  grief  and  sorrow  here  I  stray, 

And  like  a  dove  I  mourn. 

I  wander  here  like  Noah's  dove 

That  from  the  Ark  was  sent, 
And  when  the  evening  shades  appear 

My  heart  is  almost  spent. 

And  when  I  lay  my  body  down 

Upon  my  bed  to  sleep, 
My  dear  companion's  room  I  find, 

Which  causes  me  to  weep. 

My  son  got  a  fine  metallic  coffin  and  she  was  laid  to  rest 
at  Kahamah  church  near  Brown's  Ferry,  on  the  Savannah 
river,  to  which  church  she  belogned. 


142  Sketch. 


And  I  am  happy  to  state  that  my  membership  is  also 
there.  I  had  attached  myself  to  the  church  before  my 
wife's  illness,  to  her  inexpressible  joy. 
.  And  let  me  say  to  the  world  that  right  there  by  the  side 
of  my  darling,  is  where  I  want  to  be  put  when  I  cease  wan- 
deriug  about  seeking  for  the  rest  I  cannot  find. 

I  will  now  give  a  short  account  of  my  travels  since  the 
death  of  my  wife,  and  then  you  will,  in  all  probability, 
riot  hear  from  me  again. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

After  the  death  of  my  wife  I  was  entirely  alone.  I  re 
mained  in  the  settlement,  staying  at  night  first  with  one 
neighbor  and  then  with  another,  until  just  before  Christ^ 
mas,  when  I  had  my  effects  taken  to  Hartwell,  Ga.,to  rny 
son's.  I  remained  about  Hartwell  until  the  middle  of  the 
winter  and  then  moved  down  to  L.  H.  O.  Martin's,  three 
miles  below  Elberton,  in  Elbert'county,  Ga,  Martin  had 
been  wanting  me  to  live  with  him  for  several  years.  He 
now  wanted  me  to  live  with  him  as  one  of  the  family,  as 
he  said,  and  so  I  did,  with  the  exception  that  I  had  a  great 
deal  to  do,  more,  in  fact,  than  I  cared  or  was  able  to  do 
without  better  pay.  I  was  Avell  treated,  however,  by  the 
entire  family. 

In  March  I  left  Martin's  and  went  to  Piedmont  factory, 
in  Greenville  county,  S.  C.,  where  I  remained  until  June, 
blasting  in  a  well.  I  then  returned  to  my  son's,  in  Hart- 
well,  and  had  my  things  brought  back  from  Martin.  I  re 
mained  there  until  the  llth  of  September,  and  again  wer.t 
back  to  Piedmont,  being  promised  a  room  and  |1.50  a 
day.  I  had  my  things  brought  over,  but  could  get  no 
room  of  my  own  to  put  them  in.  I  had  to  put  some 
at  one  place  and  some  at  another  as  best  I  could,  and  pay 
board  but  of  my  pittance.  They  gave  me  the  wages,  how 
ever,  they  had  promised  me,  until  about  Christmas/ when 
the  superintendent  told  me  I.  would  have  to  work  for  fl.a. 


Sketch.  143 


day  or  nothing.  I  quit,  and  had  my  things  moved  up  to 
rny  sister's,  near  Woodville,  where  I  have  been  writing 
these  pages. 

Since  my  wife's  death  I  cannot  content  myself  long  at 
any  one  place. 

I  am  now  with  my  only  living  sister,  my  other  sisters 
having  died  several  years  ago.  My  brother  Reuben  also 
died  several  years  ago  at  Westminster,  where  his  widow 
still  lives.  Sister  Zillah  and  myself  are  all  that  are  left  of 
my  father's  family. 

My  sister,  too,  has  seen  her  share  of  sorrow.  Her  hus 
band  was  killed  in  the  war,  in  1864.  Just  after  the  war 
one  of  her  children  died,  and  a  few  years  subsequently  her 
eldest  child,  a  daughter,  who  was  married  and  had  one 
child,  was  drowned,  together  with  her  child,  in  Grove 
creek. 

My  sister  now  has  one  unmarried  son  living  with  her, 
named  Reuben. 

As  I  have  said,  my  things,  such  as  I  have,  are  with  her, 
and  here  they  will  remain,  unless  I  find  a  place  I  can  call 
home,  and  some  one  to  take  care  of  them. 

I  am  now  done  my  writing  and  will  be  on  the  wing  again. 
I  have  no  idea  where  I  may  go.  My  son  has  such  a  large 
family  it  doesn't  suit  me  to  live  with  him. 

I  have  a  hope  that  this  little  book  and  a  patent  I  own 
for  blasting  rock  without  danger  from  the  explosion  will 
enable  me  yet  to  have  a  home  of  my  own  to  go  to.  .  Let 
me  go  where  I  will,  my  central  office  will  be  Woodville, 
Greenville  county,  S.  C.  In  case  any  one  would  wish  to 
correspond  with  me,  that  will  be  my  post  office. 

Hoping  that  these  writings  may  interest  my  readers  in 
some  degree,  I  remain  yours  truly,  J.  W.  REID. 

Woodville,  S.  C.,  Jan  20,  1891. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


APR  ,13  194? 

U1BRARY  UfflB 

NQV8519GI 

i^Auc'fiSfcS 

jl^^TJ  vt4±  f 

RPC'O  LD 

AUG  1  4  1962 

MAR  » 7 19/4 


20 '7* ^3- 


A  P  rc      JL  »3^^ 

LD  21-100m-12,  '43  (8796s) 

I  U 


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